Wild ARMs: Rehabitated and Rehabilitated
by Black Fenril
Summary: One of the tangential fanfics of the first Wild ARMs game we know and love. Romance is another factor in this story, but... yeah. Read and review, pretty please with Filgaian fries on top?
1. Rudy's A GIRL! RIGHT ON!

Wild ARMs: Rehabitated and Rehabilitated

by Black Fenril

Disclaimer: Media Vision owns Wild ARMs. I don't. I own a copy of the game, and I wish a had a shirt that had Zed on it, but I don't. That's all, folks!

Chapter 1: The Misfortunate Exile of Rudy (...?) Roughnight

_Life is gradually fading from the land. Slowly, but surely, the destruction of Filgaia continues. A devastated enviroment filled with ferocious monsters plague the people of Filgaia who desperately try to cling to their land. Those who dare to venture out are called 'Dream Chasers'. There is a youth in the village of Surf... it's difficult to think of this youth as a 'Dream Chaser', but his potential is phenomenal. What does he seek?_

The slim, tall, hat covered boy is seen leaning against a barrel that he had just pushed back into place. He seemed to be resting. Let's look in on him, shall we?

He had the features of a regular 15 year old youth. Except small strands of blue hair hung out from the hat he was wearing. He also had dark crimson eyes. He wore a beaten old red vest, binding it tightly against his upper body. Dirty, what seems to be white sleeves stuck out from the sleeves of the vest. He wore loose teal jeans and brown boots with white trim on the top that almost went up to his knees. Black fingerless gloves covered his hands, and a red cloth was tied around his upper left arm.

When he spoke, it was a soft whisper, barely audible, and he barely spoke. He didn't look the least bit strong, but he was. Stronger than probably your average adult male human.

All of a sudden, the guy that runs the stables he was working in ran in. Telling the young boy to stop working and to gratify him.

"Hey, kid! Thank you for the work," the owner said with gratitude._ There should be more money for this kid. He's done such a great job... the horses even seem happier than usual..._ the stable owner thought. "Here's this week's pay. Sorry, kid, this is all the village can afford."

The owner handed him a Heal Berry. The blue haired boy looked down at the Heal Berry, then looked at the owner with dismay.

"What your name, kid?"

A sharp pain goes through his stomach. _I can't be found out! Not now! Damn it, what's the name I gave Mayor Pifer? ... I GOT IT!_ "Rudy Roughnight, sir," he replies, wincing and putting a hand on his stomach.

"Are you okay, Rudy?" the owner asks Rudy.

"I'm fine," he whispers.

"Well, anyway, you should go talk to Mayor Pifer. He's probably got more work for you," the owner suggested.

_Grrrrrrreat... just what I need. More damned work!_

He ambled slowly to the mayor's house. He stays there. Um, well, what I mean is, when he stumbled into Surf, the took Rudy into his- er- 'wing', shall we say, and Mayor Pifer let him stay in his home. Rudy thought that this was pretty sweet of him. This day, today, is Rudy's one week anniversary in Surf Village. Rudy went into the two story house, ascended the stairs and tried to sneak past Mayor Pifer unnoticed, but he was about as stealthy as a car crash in Baskar Village at night.

"Rudy! There you are! I wanted to give something to you," the mayor said.

_Aw, damn it, he saw me. No matter._ Rudy looked up, and mumbled, "Hi, mayor. You good, today?"

"Yes, I am. And speak up, son! I can barely hear you. It's not really possible to make it in the world when nobody finds you audible. Anyway, about the thing I wanted to give to you. But I want to ask you something. Are you really sure you want to become a Dream Chaser?" the mayor asked the blue haired boy with a sword sheathed across his back.

"Of course I am, Mayor Pifer!" Rudy said louder and higher pitched than he might've liked. "In my eyes, I have already achieved the Dream Chaser status that I have been aspiring my. Whole. Life."_ Damn... that outburst could've sabotaged my masquerade. But still, I can't believe he would ask me something like that. I still could've blown my cover, tho'._

"Well," Mayor Pifer began. "If that is the case, then I shall give you these magical bombs..."

He walked over to the counter, where three black bombs lie. He picked them up, and shoved them into Rudy's arms.

"Uh, tell me, Mayor Pifer," he said to him, more quiet this time. "What exactly is so 'magical' about these bombs?"

"Well, they never run out. You blow one up, and another takes it place. Since I'm old, too tired, and waayyy to occupied being mayor to start excavating ruins again, and since you're young, don't get tired very easily, and a 'Dream Chaser', you'll have much more use to them then I do."

"Thanks, Mayor," Rudy said while smiling weakly to him. _He did something nice. Or maybe he is one of those people who give others false hope, or throw kindness at just anyone. I LOATHE people like that... er... Ow. That damned sharp pain is back... damn it, damn it... _Rudy tried his best to hide it. He winced a couple times.

"You know that Berry Cave to the south of here?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"We used to harvest Holy Berries there. Then, some daring villagers ventured further into the cave, and found this 10 foot high statue. While they were investigating it, it cracked, and this zombie - type thing came out. It attacked them, but they escaped. They brought the Dream Chasers who were visiting the village out to the Berry Cave, and paid a pretty good bounty on having it killed. They killed it, or at least tried to, and almost did. They would have, if the thing hadn't kept regenerating itself when it was defeated," Mayor Pifer hesitated for a second.

"Go on," Rudy insisted.

"Well, one 'brilliant' Dream Chaser had a 'brilliant' idea. To plant the last Holy Berry seed inside the demon while it was regenerating itself. They did it, and the Zombie had been sealed inside the statue it was once in. Made to be sealed for ALL eternity. Never to be awakened again. Anyways, the planting of the last Holy Berry seed caused us to lose trading with other towns. Thus, we are a poor village, and will take anything we can get our little meathooks on, ya know? That's why everybody's so pleased with your work in the stables. You're a good worker."

Rudy blushed a little. "Uh, thanks."

He turned to leave, Rudy did. He tried to descend the stairs, but the guy that guards the town, Paul, ran up the same staircase Rudy was going down, and Rudy got knocked down. The guy apologized quickly, brushing past him, and telling Mayor Pifer the uber - important news.

"Mayor! A child from the village has sneaked past the guard in the Berry Cave!"

_Tony... that was probably what he was talking about when he said he had some 'things' to attend to out of town. _Rudy slipped out of the room, unnoticed, this time. _Agh... I, Cassie Roughnight, am going to save Tony! Guardians, leave this human some faith..._ Ru... um, Cassie realized that the cramp was still there, but didn't care. She had a little kid to save.

Back in Mayor Pifer's, um, quarters, shall we say...

"Berry Cave... how on Filgaia are we gonna rescue that kid? Rudy..." he turns around to expect to see the gender - ambiguous boy, but he didn't. "Rudy? Paul, did you see a boy with blue hair?"

"Boy? There wasn't a boy in here. There was a gender - ambiguous girl, and she left already," Paul replied.

That last thing made Mayor Pifer stutter like an idiot. (Peter Griffin-like laugh) Anyways, Cassie goes through Berry Cave. Then she sees a sign (no not the "I saw the sign" type...). It said "Do not destroy this sign! Danger ahead! That means you, young lady! Yes, we know you're a young lady, and the place that leads to here isn't a place where ladies should go..."

_Too freakin' bad. I'm goin' there... you smart ass sign... So I'm 15 and female, big freakin' deal._

Then a few minutes later, she came up to another sign that said "Danger! Bats will bring "Bad Omen"! Footsteps will wake them up! Take it slow and easy..."

"What the Hades is "Bad Omen"? Well, I'd better find out..."

She dashes down the bridge. Then some bats come and attack her. She fights to shoo them off, but they are way too damned persistent.

"GET THE HADES OFF ME! STOP IT! ARGH!"

Then she comes across a Holy Symbol. She holds it up in the air, and thank Solus Emsu, they backed off. Then she read the sign next to it.

"The Holy Symbol will exorcise the "Bad Omen". Thanks for running, asswipe!" she read aloud.

_Another wise - ass sign... (sigh) They never give me a break..._

Then a statue puzzle comes up a few minutes later. She pulls the right lever, and the one behind the first statue moves. It can't get up because the first statue is blocking it.

"DAMN IT!"

Then she pulls the right lever again, went to the left lever. The first statue came up. Then she goes back to the right lever and pulls it AGAIN. The path is cleared. She goes south. In the next room, there is a Bullet Clip and a cough star of David cough save point/magic encampment.

_Hmm... I must be getting close or something..._

And she was right. She goes all the way west she could, then goes north a ways. There was Tony, the strawberry blonde headed 8 year old boy.

"Ca- Rudy! There you are..."

"It's all right here, Tony... You can call me by my real name."

"All righty then. Cassie. Do you have anything to clear this blocked passage? I've tried for freakin' ages and nothing has worked."

"Well, Mayor Pifer gave me some bombs... but..."

Tony told her the whole story. The Holy Berries, and his wounded father.

"Okay, you have pretty much convinced me. You're not worried about any Zombie, kid?"

"No. It's sealed away in that statue, 'member?"

"Oh, yeah..."

"By the way, take off that hat... it cramps your style."

Off came her hat, and down came her shiny blue hair. It came to at least 3/4 down her back.

"Your hair... it's beautiful... why do you hide your gender, Cassie?"

"I will tell you later..."

She set a bomb down by the blocked passage. It went off in a couple seconds, and the passage becomes clear.

_Chimes, Freddy! YEAH!_

"Great.. now... get that last Holy Berry and let's get out of here!"

By the way, did I mention she leveled up two levels in the cave? Also, she found a Bandanna in the next room, partially hidden by a wall. It raises her defense, ladies and (not-so) gentleman. She picked up the Holy Berry, which is emitting a faint purple light. Then in came Tony.

"You've got it... good..."

"Now let's get the Hades out of here!"

They get to the entrance of the cave... nothing has happened yet... They meet the entire village there. By then, she already had her hair up in her hat again.

_Her really hat..._ Tony thought.

"Rudy! Tony! Thank the Guardians you're all right!" Mayor Pifer was relieved.

"Yeah. All we needed to do was retrieve the Holy Berry..." Tony explained.

"WHAT!" the village exclaimed at the reddish blonde and blue haired cough ARMslinger cough gender ambiguous girl.

Just then, there was a giant earthquake. It was so huge, you could probably feel it from Milama Village, in far southwestern Filgaia! Cassie held onto Tony. It seemed to go on for about 5 minutes.

"Whoa, what the Hades was that earthquake about?" Mayor Pifer asked to no one in particular.

"Uh... I dunno..." Cassie replied stupidly.

"Anyways, I guess the Holy Berry thing can't be helped. Let's go back to Surf Village and heal Tony's father..."

As everybody started to leave, the dog ran up behind Cassie and started barking madly.

"What is it, boy?" Cassie asked the now known as male dog. A strange type of tension-y sort of music was playing. The blue haired ARMslinger REALLY didn't like it. Well, actually it sounded cool, but really is just a teaser in a situation like this... Then everybody saw the horrid thing after a gust of wind blew out from the entrance to the next room.

"Oh, my Guardians! It's the ZOMBIE OF SURF VILLAGE!" somebody yelled out.

DA DA! DA DA DA DA...

The battle begins. The thing is really horrid looking. Misshapen and shapeless at the same time and really really ferocious looking. Two horns were coming out of its head and sharp dagger like claws on its fingers (...?). Its eyes were chasms of pitch black, never seeming to end, and in short, it wasn't really something you would want to mess around with.

It attacked first. Since Chapapanga, the Guardian of Luck, wasn't exactly smiling upon Cassie today, the monster attacked with its dagger - like claws. She evaded it easily, but they cut through the binders holding her vest together tightly, and her C - cup femininity (still in the white shirt, tho', sorry guys) showed.

"Agh! Damn it! You're serious. Oh, well... it was fun while it lasted. If it's a fight you want..." Cassie drew out her Hand Cannon ARM, neatly polished, and all 'spic and span'. "It's a fight you'll get. ARM Lock On!"

A green crosshair type thing appeared, and Cassie aimed her Hand Cannon precisely, at the stomach. "HAND CANNON!" she yelled. She grabbed the hammer and pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through the demon's stomach, but the Zombie just regenerated after the attack. "What! You can regenerate? Damn, this battle is gonna take forever."

Then she remembered something about Tony saying that if you throw the Holy Berry into the demon's digestive tract, it will die instantaneously. Hm... big word, eh?

She drew her 'Long Knife' sword and got on the Zombie's shoulders (...?), pried his mouth open with it and forced in the Holy Berry. He was reduced to sludge instantaneously. Hey, there's that word again.

So the battle ended. That was a considerably short battle, even for Cassie. Her red eyes (and no, they're not bloodshot from lack of sleep, crimson is the color of her irises) have a sign of pride and courage. But that look turned into sadness as to what happened next.

"Great job, Cassie! You defeated the Zombie!" Tony congratulated her, but his mother took hold of his shoulders and pulled him back. "Mom? What happened?"

"You have unleashed a terrible omen onto Surf Village. You have lied to us about your gender. Why?" the stable owner asked the now revealed blue haired ARMslinger.

She pulled off her hat to reveal the beautiful, shiny blue hair again. It cascaded down her shoulders gracefully.

"I was in desperate need of work. I've seen you turn down women who were perfect for that job!"

The stable owner just clenched his fists and said nothing. Now, Tony's father spoke. "I've heard about you. You possess an ARM. I know I shouldn't have, but I looked through your stuff the other day," Tony's father confessed.

"The ARM has cursed us all!" one voice said.

"Cassie probably directly caused that earthquake!" said another.

"ENOUGH!" Mayor Pifer said. "Cassie, you will be judged on this by village law. Do you agree, Cassie?"

She lowered her head and mumbled, barely audible, "Do I have a choice?"

The next day... Cassie stares out the window. Her hair was down, but she put it back up with her hat. Her clothes had been fixed, and she looked like a male again. She made her way downstairs, to overhear the conference/trial that Mayor Pifer and four other villagers were having.

"Then the decision is made. We will ask her to leave. I took her in, so I'll inform her of our decision," Mayor Pifer said.

Her jaw literally dropped. Her red eyes began to tear up. _The only place I belong... and I messed that up, too... Oh, Grandfather, what should I do now?_

Cassie sees Mayor Pifer and runs to him.

"Were you eavesdropping, Cassie?"

"Yes."

"Then you know of our decision. I must ask you to pack your things and leave. And please, don't come back."

She could feel her tears running hot down her cheeks, burning her face. _Maybe I wasn't meant for Filgaia... the only place that had accepted me..._

She runs upstairs, grabs her knapsack, and with the ARM that had betrayed her, she put it between her and her belt.

As she walks to the town entrance, she thinks with scorn,_ Why is it that I curse every freakin' where I go? Why can't I be like every other human? Why is it that people stare at my cerulean hair, and my crimson eyes? WHY!_

Her life was made up with 'why's. As she left Surf, Tony came running up to her.

"Hey, Cassie! Thank you for saving me! I was so helpless. You should know that those villagers are wrong.""Go tell them that. They'll just go 'No, she trashed our village and put a curse on us'. Face it, Tony. This village has people with hearts built with stone. All excepting you. Have a good life, Tony."

"But- I'll never see you again?"

"Not for a long time. I don't think this village wants Dream Chasers here at all."

"That's- I have to get back. Thank you, Cassie. Have courage to conquer your next mission."

He ran from her then. _How come he, of all people, are different! WHY!_

_She used her skill to protect them, yet they rejected her out of fear. She was born with a power she never asked for. The skill to use the forbidden 'ARM's. She still roams Filgaia, in search of her soul, unaware of her inborn power..._

Dani: So... that was okay, wasn't it?

Rudy: Couldn't have been better.

Smart Ass Rudy: Yes it could have!

Jack: Hey! HEY! Where's the bourbon, dudes?

Smart Ass Rudy: Up your ass, asswipe!

Cecilia: You are being rude!

Rudy: Eheh... no wonder he was named 'Rudy'.

Cecilia: (Laughs) You want to go out sometime?

Dani: Back off, Princess, Rudy is MINE.

Cecilia: Sorry.

Rudy: Right. (Purrs my name) I want you, Dani.

Jack: Now we're gettin' a party! WOOHOO!

Cecilia: (Sighs) This is getting nowhere.

Dani: Okay, I am only using Rudy as something.

Jack: 'EY!

Dani: And Jack, but you'll have a different name.

Rudy: TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

Dani: Man, this really IS getting nowhere...


	2. Eric Van Burace's Nonsense

Wild ARMs: Rehabitated and Rehabilitated

by Black Fenril

Disclaimer: Media Vision owns Wild ARMs. The only thing of Wild ARMs I own is a copy of the game. I wish I had a shirt that had Zed on it, tho'. That'd be too damn cool! Ta!

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Chapter 2: A Treasure Hunter, His Girlfriend and A Wind Mouse.

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3 figures walk up to the Temple of Memory. The first was a 27-year-old man with long blonde hair tied near the bottom with a torn up green ribbon. He was wearing a black shirt covered by a beige overshirt and a trench coat. His jeans were indigo, with boots going up to almost his knees. On his shoulder was a blue Wind Mouse Sprite, who was chattering with the female to his left side. She had bright pink hair and green eyes. She wore a black ribbon around her head, a teal t-shirt that said "The Crocodile Hunter was My Best Friend...". She appeared to be about 25 years old. She also wore dark green cargos and blue Adios. In short, she was one kick ass female. Both the pink haired female and the blonde male had swords in sheathes at their sides.

"Okay, Tara... Hanpan... I think this is it..." the blonde swordsman said.

"I think you wasted your money," the mouse, now known as Hanpan piped up.

"Hanpan! Don't be ridiculous! Eric didn't waste his money! Plus, it was my intuition anyway... so if we don't find anything here, it's my fault..." the female, dubbed as Tara, explained.

"Ha!" Eric laughed.

"She's supposed to say that," Hanpan said. "She's your girlfriend."

"Now, I object!" Tara protested. "I'm not just his 'girlfriend'. I'm his partner, just like you, Hanpan!"

"Right," Eric agreed with the pink haired warrior woman. "She's more of a use than you are anyway."

"Hey!" Hanpan said a little bit more loudly than his regular voice.

Tara smirked and said innocently, "I've got thumbs, too..."

"DOUBLE HEY!" Hanpan yelled as loud as his Wind Mouse voice could.

"Ugh, can we just go in?" Eric asked the bickering duo. "I'm getting impatient!"

"You always were impatient..." Hanpan said before sighing. "Let's go in and just get this over with..."

The trio go into the Temple of Memory. After going in about 35 feet, they see this huge box with a piece of stone secluded from the rest of the stone that it was made out of. Somebody would think you would engrave something into it, hmm?

"Hey, Hanpan... what the Hades is this?" Eric asked the little Wind Mouse on his shoulder.

Hanpan said nothing.

Tara looked past the stone box and saw a closed entry way into the next room. "Well, there's a door blocked by bars over there... Maybe it's some sort of password thingie."

"How do you turn it on?"

Hanpan remained silent.

Tara was thinking. Usually, she's coming up with a plan. A stupid plan. A really stupid, idiotic idea! Without warning her other two male companions, she brought her foot back and kicked the stone box as hard as she could, which caused them to jump.

Hanpan was the first to speak. "Ooh, boy..."

The machine suddenly springs to life. The crystal in the middle began to blow, and the energy from it pushed Tara, Eric and Hanpan back on a weird design on the floor.

"Oh... the irony..." Hanpan said.

"I am the keeper of the Memory. Engrave your name in the stone, rightful seeker..." a booming voice shouted over them.

"Uh... any ideas?" Eric asked his two companions.

Tara looked at him. He was her secret knowledge weapon. What Hanpan couldn't figure out, she could. But this time... well, she was pretty damn clueless...

"I have nooooo idea..." Tara and Hanpan said in unison at the same time.

Eric shrugged, took out a knife from his knapsack with a six inch blade and engraved 'Eric' in said stone. The machine whirred for a moment.

"I AM THE KEEPER OF THE MEMORY! INTRUDER (S), I WILL... I will... um... SEND YOU TO THE BOTTOM OF THE ABYSS! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! TO ANOTHER DIMENSION! AHAHAHA! Aw, Hades, I'll just send ya down to the bottom of the Memory..." a button being pressed sounds, and the floor beneath them disappeared, causing them to fall.

"OHHH! DAAAAAMN!"

As they fall, Eric and Tara cling to each other for their lives. They land gracefully. Eric lands on a patch of spikes, almost ready to come up from the ground.

"ERIC!" Tara yells while grabbing him by the collar of his trench coat and pulling him out of the way before the spikes came up. They ran. They were heading east, but a boulder came rolling their way, not caring (most likely because it's an inanimate object) what or who it crushed the freakin' life out of.

"RUN!" Eric yelled, while taking hold of Tara's hand and running in the opposite direction. She almost tripped and fell, which wouldn't have been new, because she used to be a cheerleader, and you don't learn hurkey flips overnight, ya know. They took a bridge, which turned out really inconvenient to them, because everytime you'd step on a tile, it'd fall down to the abyss, but the unusually fast duo made it across the two bridges they took fairly easy. Then another boulder chased after them.

"Hanpan..." Tara wondered if he was all right... or... no...

"He's in my pocket. This little guy's always safe with me... whether he knows it or not.." Eric trailed off.

Then Tara noticed, not before too long, that a boulder was coming towards them from the front, and also from the back. They were going to be smushed. "Eric, we have to jump."

"Jump? How...?" but then he saw an opening. He ran, dragging Tara along with him, into it, and actually ran into the wall (must resist Panic! At the Disco "Build God, Then We'll Talk" reference... gah...), after which, they fell into another chasm, not clinging to each other this time.

Tara felt something catch her, but she knew it wasn't Eric.

Eric landed on the ground gracefully, but he didn't hear another thump depicting that Tara had, also.

"Tara? Tara! Tara!" he yelled.

He could hear somebody call "ERIC!" from a distance. Then he heard somebody land on the ground, and stick it gracefully. Eric turned around. He had the pink haired warrior woman in his arms.

Eric put his hand on the hilt of his Arctic Blade. "Put my girlfriend down," he said with a little courage in his voice.

He scanned the mysterious man over. He had green hair that came down to his shoulders, a black/grey sweatband. He wore a gold/beige scarf, and blue armor, with a capital 'Z' on his right (if you were looking at him head on) shoulder. He also had a long, skinny braid that came down to his waist, and the sword in his sheathe was a Doom Bringer, a sword that was cursed with bad luck. Well, actually 'Worst' luck, but that's not the point. His boots went up half way up to his knees, and he didn't look very happy. Well... maybe not not very happy, but he looked pretty damned sleep deprived.

He drew his Doom Bringer sword, then he asked in a suave voice, "And why not?"

"Don't make me fight you..." Eric said.

"You won't have to," the green haired man said while trying to hold Tara with one arm.

"What's your name?" Eric asked him, smirking because of the demon's inability to support Tara with one arm.

"You will find out later. All you need to know is that I'm taking this Tara away for imprisonment.

A little bit annoyed, Tara asked him, "And why the Hades are you doing that?"

The green haired demon just replied simply, "I love you." Then he sheathed his sword again, and ran away, fully supporting Tara's small weight. Then he reverse drop teleported when he noticed Eric was starting to run after them.

A little shaken by the recent events, Hanpan tried to choose his words carefully. "It's all right, Eric. We'll get her back."

"THIS IS THE SECOND DAMNED TIME! THE SECOND DAMNED TIME SOME DAMNED DEMON TOOK AWAY SOMEONE I LOVE, AND WAS GONNA ASK FOR MARRIAGE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT HAPPENED AGAIN!" Eric yelled as loud as he could, hoping the green haired demon, and maybe even Tara, would hear.

"Well... maybe, for now, we should concentrate on getting out of here, Eric. Our survival is more important than revenge right now, anyway."

Eric calmed waaaaaaay down. He simply nodded, then said, "That might be a good idea, mousy..."

So they scavenge around a bit. They found a Heal Berry in the chest that was about 3 feet from where they were standing.

_Tara... I love you... Don't let that guy win you over... Tara..._

_Poor Eric. He's lost so much... I wish that one time he could be happy..._

_Meet Eric Van Burace, master of the Fast Draw. His past is a total mystery. Only Hanpan and Tara know of it. Eric became a treasure hunter for one reason. He is in search of the 'Absolute Power', a power he wishes to use in a futile attempt to try and fulfill his revenge against the Metal Demons... Tara, Hanpan and he relentlessly search. Is it a sword? Is it hidden in here? Is it floating around in the air where everyone sees something, yet sees nothing? Or the pathetic cars of today that everybody buys simply for convienience? I sure as Hades hope not. That'd be redundant. Anywho, so far they are 'Absolute Power'less, and one of the members of the dynamic... um... trio has been taken away for imprisonment, but we know pretty damn well what Zeikfried has up his sleeve. Oop... Hanpan's special ability thing is coming up... Ta!_

Eric stops in front of a chasm. Across which an unopened chest lay, ready to be examined at any time.

"Uh... mousy? How do we get that treasure?"

Hanpan hesitated for a second, then stated, "I can get that for you." Hanpan replied.

"Okay, mousy... go get it, please."

"Well... you know... speed and wit are my fort'e," Hanpan said. He readied his little mouse heinder to go get it. "CHECK OUT MY MAD WIND MOUSE SKILLZ!" he yelled before taking off. When he ran, he accidently tripped over a rock and fell down... way down the chasm...

That's when Eric started to laugh his ass off.

5 minutes later, when Hanpan had managed to climb back up... he was sweaty and not to mention pissed off. Eric was on the ground, clutching his sides. "Now what were you saying when you said "Speed and wit are my fort'e?" the totally cracked up now blonde swordsman asked his Wind Mouse companion.

"Aw, hush up, you... Now send me out again so I can gets to that treasure!"

By the way, that grammatical error was done on purpose. Blame my imagination...

Eric sends him out this time. _Please, mousy, don't trip this time. _He didn't.

Cowboy Hat acquired.

When Hanpan got back to Eric's feet, Eric picked up the cheesy looking hat. He put it on his head, and it disappeared (due to the invisible armor technique Wild ARMs likes to do. Seriously, they could have a hilt on Jack's sword...)

"This will raise your defense. It may look dorky, but it's efficiency is more important than its appearance. So suck it up," Hanpan gasped out without even looking up first.

"Uh, mousy, you can't exactly see it. And plus, I never said I didn't like it anyway."

Hanpan looked up. "Oh. Then I suppose..."

30 minutes later... Eric is in front of 5 gold box type thing...ers.

"Hey, uh, mousy, what do we do here?" the blonde swordsman asked his little blue partner in crime.

Hanpan hesitated for a second, then said, "Uh, try pushing the middle box down..."

I did, and I was almost dragged along with it to its pitch black fate down in the bottom of the abyss.

_Holy crap..._ Eric thought as he pulled himself back from the chasm. He sent Hanpan to the other side, hoping sincerely that the little klutz wouldn't fall... but on the other hand, it'd be damned funny if he did... Eric couldn't help laughing at that result. After Hanpan flicked the switch, he ran back to Eric, huffing and puffing. "Mousy, you needed a workout like this. You haven't exactly gotten your exercise these last couple weeks."

"Shut... up... Eric..." Hanpan gasped out. "I think I heard a door open to the... southwest."

"All right," Eric agreed before turning around to leave the room, then notices the chasms across the floor. "You know what, mousy? I really wish I had some sort of grappling hook right about now."

Hanpan looked out to the floor (well, he would have, if there had been a floor). "Suck it up, Eric."

Eric grumbles while starting to walk southwest to avoid the first pitch black chasm. _I hate this damned dumb floor!_ And I suppose I'll agree with him, since... well..._ But to get out of this mess, I'll be willing to do whatever. I mean, Guardians, who do I have to sleep with to get the Hades out of here?_ When he gets out of the room, he dashes to the west, evading a spear which almost pierced his skull, and he finds a Heal Berry, just south of the newly opened passageway. He goes through it...

10 minutes later, Eric finds himself in a room with two peculiar switches he was trying to figure out how to operate. He got sick of thinking after about 30 seconds, so he asked Hanpan to help him.

"Uh, mousy...? How do I operate these switches?" Eric asked the little Wind Mouse, scanning over a note on the wall that read, "How the Hades do I operate these damned switches? I don't get it!" Then, the next thing he sees doesn't actually please him. He just stood there gaping at it.

"What the Hades-?" Hanpan gets out before he looks down. "Oh, my Guardians... it's a skeleton..."

That it was. In its arms was a bag full of jewels that he had probably acquired from the previous floors.

"Well..." Hanpan said before shaking his head and gazing up at the note again. "What you should do is stand on one blue switch, then ya can send me out to get the other."

"Mousy, tell me something... if you know all this about this Temple of Memory, then why couldn't you tell me what the password was?"

"I... wasn't there in Wind Mouse school when they were reviewing that lesson. Anyways..."

Eric stands on one of the blue switches, and sets Hanpan on the ground. The arrogant, little blue Wind Mouse wanted to prove to Eric that he was worthy, so he wanted to do this perfectly. Poor little guy overstimulated himself, overshot the blue switch, crashed into the wall, and landed back on the switch. Eric starts laughing his ass off again, clutching his sides. Hanpan gets pissed off, then stops himself from charging at Eric. Then runs back to him, and climbs up to his shoulder.

Eric walks to the red hypnosis type thingie in front of him. "Mousy, I know we've seen a lot of weird things in our days, but what the Hades is this thing?"

"Hmm... some sort of teleportation device type thingamajigger?"

Eric hesitated for a second, then asked, "Where do you think it would take us?"

"I don't know, but I don't think this is a very good-"

Eric just ignored his arrogant mouse companion and dashed into it, the force almost knocking Hanpan off his shoulder, but Hanpan's little mousy hands clutched onto the tip of Eric's 'ponytail' (let's just put it that way).

The next scene...

The music; super super super cool. Let's just say I wouldn't mind downloading its midi, but that's not the point. Eheh... --. Anywho, what they find when they look to the north... will change their lives forever... or make them truly dumbfounded. Both will do.

"Okay, mousy, I know that last thing was a little out of the ordinary, but this... what the Hades is this thing?"

He was looking at this huge machine, which had multiple tubes coming out of it, and it seemed to block a huge doorway. Or wall. It was too dark to see past it.

Apparently, his knowledgable seemed just as dumbfounded as he was. "I... don't know. I've never seen anything like this, at all. How do you turn it on?"

Eric smirked a little. "I think I'll let my foot take care of that conundrum, now shalln't I?" he raised his foot to kick it, but the machine turns on by itself (knowing the damage Tara had inflicted by kicking the Password Box earlier). A strange looking man with long hairy ears, but still the silhouette of a human was projected out of it.

"Oh, my Guardians... it's a Sworkassi..."

"What?" Eric was still entranced by the entirety of the mysterious machine. "So... this is a Sworkassi..."

"This machine is amazing! The Sworkassis' must have left this machine here for messages to be retrieved later. And to think, this thing is 1,000 years old plus..."

"The Sworkassi, huh? Tell me more about them, mousy."

"The Sworkassi were an advanced race who used technology laced with magic. A rather uncourageous race, per se... They left Filgaia after the war with the demons 1,000 years ago, claiming it was unsuitable for them to live because the humans were reckless and also overtaken with greed. And also because after the war with the Metal Demons, they found the land too desolate, and moved a part of Filgaia still teeming with life to another dimension, and they've lived there to this day. Now to them, Filgaia is a fable. To us, they are just a race from a legend, like the Guardians. Some people still believe in the Guardian, most do not..." Hanpan explained.

"And... how come you never told me this before?" the blonde swordsman asked his companion.

"You never asked," Hanpan laughed. "They were a race that was really into magic and coexistance with nature and that kinda crap, so yeah.

"Whoa... jeez... is the... that Sworkassi up there is speaking directly into my mind!" Eric said while putting his right hand to his forehead.

"With your thick skull? This certainly is 'Advanced Technology'!" Hanpan quipped.

_Don't you DARE kick me! Seek not Lolithia, or she will annihilate Filgaia. The Sworkassi have left Filgaia because the humans were bastards and the climate and land sucked! So suck it! Hahahahaha! If you do seek Lolithia, you're screwed! She is bound in the 'Land of Light', and we intend for her to stay there until she's destroyed. But... she's the 'Death Wind'. Her icy breath is mint fresh from the Dentyne Ice she was chewing earlier and ready to kill! Oh... right, and if this is Mariel, you're still too flat to come back to the Sworkassi Dimension so suck my left one! Hahahaha! Emiko, out._

Then, the holographic image fades until it is no more.

After that, there was a loooong, awkward silence.

Then Hanpan spoke. "Wow... Dude... that was messed up..."

"I agree with you there, mousy. Emiko... heh... who the Hades would name their kid that, eh?" Eric chuckled a bit. The 'Land of Light', huh? Where's that, mousy? This could be the 'Absolute Power' we have been searching for..."

"Well, in some old, ancient tongue, Adlehyde mean 'Light'."

_And Arctica is 'Ice'..._

"Adlehyde isn't that far from here. We should stop by."

After hesitating... er... processing that information, Eric replied, "Okay..."

"It's southeast of here..."

"All right, mousy, I get it! I used to be a Fenril Knight, all right? I know where my sister city is!"

Slightly taken aback at Eric's outburst, Hanpan simply stated, "All righty then, Garrett, shall we go, then?"

"Yep..."

Eric dashes back to the red teleporter, and is transported to the entrance of the Temple of Memory. Him and Hanpan, of course.

_Why does man seek power? Is it to light to the darkened path to the future? Free thyself from the past... but what awaits in the future? Little does Eric know, there is a price to pay when the 'Absolute Power' is attained. What else he doesn't know, is that the power he seeks is also binding his soul._

Dani: Another chapter bites the dust.

Rudy: Yep. Thank the Guardians.

Smart Ass Rudy: He finally agrees with me.

Cecilia: (Anime sweatdrops) Eheh...

Dani: Well, what am I doing holding you back?


	3. The Prince of Adlehyde, Julian

Wild ARMs: Rehabitated and Rehabilitated

by Black Fenril

---------------------

Disclaimer: Media Vision owns Wild ARMs (lucky people). The only thing I own of Wild ARMs is the game. Oh, and I guess some drawings that I can't post because of lack of a scanner. Eheh... anyways... I also wish I had a shirt that had Zed on it, but that's not in the question right now, so...

----------------------

Chapter 3: He Sure Isn't Proud To Call Himself the Innocent One...

-----------------------

A boy stands in the middle of pure and utter darkness. Let's look in on him, shall we?

He looks about 16 years old. He had long brunette hair that went down to his waist, and striking blue eyes that would make any girl melt. He wasn't tall, but he wasn't short either. I'm going to guess he's about... 5' 8''. His attire would consist of a beige jacket, a green shirt under it that had the words 'The Curan Abbey' written in cursive across it. He had a knapsack hanging from his shoulders, and a Mage Staff secured at the brown belt at his waist. His pants were black, like formal ones that come with suits. On his feet were... well... polished italian loafers, let's just put it that way.

_Oh... Innocent One... you can feel my mind in yours..._

The boy looked around cautiously, then yelled out, "What? Who the Hades are you? And you should know," he got a lopsided grin on his face. "I'm not that innocent."

_Oh, come on, man! You're as chaste as driven snow, and you know it, Innocent One._

The boy ditched his grin and sighed. Then he looked around, just realizing that it was pitch black around him, and he couldn't see a damned thing. "It's dark... can somebody turn on the lights?"

Blue lights appear out of nowhere, and the brunette boy could feel an unusual sense of warmness when they fused with his body.

_Tell me your name... we will again be bound by the ancient contract..._

"Ancient contract? Should I notify my lawyer about this?" the boy quipped.

_Stop being a smartass, Innocent One! Tell me your damned name! The world is once again being engulfed by darkness! Now be a good Shaman Child and tell me your name!_

"Uh..." the boy hesitated, flipping a stray long hair to his back. "My name is Julian."

_Okay, good. Julian... let go of your ego. The power is in the book._

"Who are you?" Julian asked the shadow.

But it disappeared, taking the light along with it, which caused the area to become dark again.

_Julian..._

_Julian..._

_Julian, the Innocent One..._

_Julian..._

_...Julian..._

_-------------------------_

"Julian!"

"Julian!"

"JULIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAN! Wake the Hades up! The damned class is over!"

Julian woke up to the not - so pleasing sound of Father Andrew's voice. He raised his head up. "Huh? What? Where...?"

But he knew right away where he was. Father Andrew had just finished a lecture on the four crests, Geo, Fray, Wing and Muse. He was in his school of magic, the Curan Abbey.

Julian felt a strong headache coming on. The kid put an immediate hand to his forehead. "Ugh... what happened?"

An orange haired boy to the left of him named Chris piped up quickly. "You're turning 17 today, right? You need to learn how to be not so spaced out."

Julian anime sweatdropped (hey this is a cartoon, after all), and laughed nervously.

Then a blonde boy in the desk behind Julian chided, "Aren't you supposed to go back to Adlehyde when you turn 17? I worry about the future of Filgaia if our prince has mental problems."

Julian turned around to face said blonde boy with his eyebrows slanted in a mad way. "Bite. Me. Cory. You could stop it with the insults. I'm just a little dazed."

The kid, now known as Cory simply asked, "You're going back to Adlehyde soon, aren't you? You should bid adieu to everybody before you leave."

"One damned thing at a time! Guardians, I am not Ione Paua... Jeez... but you are right, I do need to do that."

Chris asked the prince, "Are you done yet?"

Cory chided, "Stop procrastinating! Get going!"

"Everyone will appreciate your visit."

Both boys take hold of both Julian's arms and practically shove him out of the classroom, then they closed the door behind him.

_Argh... I hate hastiness..._ the brunette prince thought bitterly. Then he sneered at thinking of the actual word.

As he walked, his long (REALLY LONG) brunette was carried by the air as he walked, like a feather. His shampoo was Dove, of course.

He makes his way into the library. He doesn't know why he came in there. The assistant librarian was waiting for something. He knew she was up to something because the top three buttons of her blouse were unbuttoned, showing off a lot of lamb (eheh... couldn't think of a better term, blame my vocabulary), her blonde hair was down, and she had a pout and looked really sad in particular.

Now, Julian was your average hornball teenage boy, to put it bluntly. You could probably manipulate him easily with just a little pout. But only to the extent where he would do it only once more.

"Julian..." she tried to say seductively and sadly at the same time. "I made a mess. Would you please go borrow the Pocket Watch from Anje so you can put these books in their respective places back on the shelves?"

"Of course," Julian replied brightly. "But the seducing me into doing it thing doesn't work on me, Miranda. I'm too used to it."

"Well, Guardians, Julian!" Miranda yelled at the now startled prince. "How else can a woman get a man to do something that doesn't involve sex?"

"Well," Julian thought for a brief second. "You could ask. We'd probably say no, but we'd respect you for trying."

Miranda just looked down at the floor in shame. "I should have been a nun..."

Julian took an immediate step back. "Not with those legs, you wouldn't!" then he smirked arrogantly.

Miranda placed her gaze back at the handsome prince, and simply stated, "At least somebody appreciates them."

Julian turned his smirk into a broad grin. "Anytime, Miranda."

And then, Julian left the library to go to Anje's room.

--------------------

Meanwhile, in said magician's quarters.

Things weren't exactly going her way today. She needed the prince's Tear Drop to test out an experiment, and he was leaving soon. Today.

_That prince better turn up soon, or I'm gonna show him a peace of my mind if he comes back here. Ooh, Guardians, Chapapanga sure isn't smiling down upon me today..._

Then she heard a familiar male voice yell, "YO ANJE! CAN I BORROW YOUR WAAAAAAATCH?"

_Prince Julian! Oh, maybe Chapapanga is smiling down upon me today. Thank the Guardians._

Julian walked up to her calmly. Then he asked, "Uh, Anje...? Can I borrow your watch?"

"Sure. You can even have it if you do something for me here..." she said while turning around to get her experiment.

"Uh... you mean like a favor?" Julian suddenly looked fright stricken. "Oh, Guardians, Anje, I barely know you..."

Anje turned around and looked at the prince for a second peculiarly. Then she suddenly realized what he meant, and turned a bright crimson. "That is not what I meant, Julian! And you know it..."

"Phew," Julian said while wiping the sleeve of his jacket across his forehead. "Eheh... I was worried there for a second. Is it hot in here, or is it just me...?"

Anje glared back at him and simply stated,"It's just you, Sir Jumpstoconclusionsalot."

Julian looked at her peculiarly and said,"I ain't even gonna ask how you came up with that."

Anje smirked at him lopsidedly. "You don't want to know. Anyways, the thing I was talking about earlier..."

She walks south a bit to the table and set down a weird looking rock on it. Then she walked back to Julian.

"That..." she started proudly. "Is the Guardian Stone. It will react to something of relations to the Guardians when said item is near it."

Julian took out a cerulean colored crystal and looked at it. It pulsated like a heart in his hands. "Like my Tear Drop?"

"Yes, or rather... we will find out. Would you use your Tear Drop near the Guardian Stone, Julian? If you do this for me, I will give you my Pocket Watch."

"Okay."

He strolls over coolly to the table with he Guardian Stone on it. He holds it up above his head with pride. When it collects all the blue sparkly things, the Guardian Stone glows red with radiance.

"You mean, I was actually right? For once? BOOYAKA! Your Tear Drop is related to the Guardians in some way, Julian. As promised, here is the Pocket Watch."

The Guardian Stone disappears, and what appeared in its place seemed to be what was, a wrapped present. It unwraps itself.

Tool: Pocket Watch acquired.

"The Pocket Watch," Anje started. "can turn back time. It doesn't work on humans or living things, however, it can reset objects and broken boxes. It's magic is definitely worth repeating. I really must thank you, child. This is going to further my research so much!" Anje thanked the Crest Sorceror.

Julian looked it over. "Nifty little thing. Is this real gold?"

"Uh... Julian... does it actually freakin' matter?" the happy magician asked.

"Eheh... I guess not. Well, I really must be getting back..." Julian stated. "Thanks for the watch... Anje?"

He had finally taken his eyes off his new acquired tool and saw the pink haired magician going all 'Disco Fever' on him. _Eheh... guess she's happy._ Then he turned back around and walked out the door on the other side of the wall.

As Julian goes back to the library, he thinks about the Tear Drop, and the someone who gave him said blue crystal; his late mother, Elvira Lynne Adlehyde.

_Man, this little trinket continues to amaze me. It must have some power hidden deep inside or something. I wonder why nobody ever broke it to find out... Ugh... what the Hades am I thinking?_ He slapped himself, resulting in a very red cheek._ This Tear Drop is my most prized possession! Why would I even think of breaking it? _He slapped himself again.

Then a couple seconds later, he found himself in front of Miranda, who was blocking the entrance to the library.

"Good. You've got the Pocket Watch. I'm gonna go to Father Andrew and start making excuses. Julian... I'm counting on you, all right?" then she left the scene, leaving Julian to walk to the book induced mess.

"I hate using this kind of music for a damned dumb excuse like this, but..."

He held the Pocket Watch above his head at arm's length... but nothing happened.

"What the?"

Then he found an inscription on the back of it.

_You must tell me why you must use me first... then I will grant you my power and turn back time to the instance that you wish me to..._

The handsome prince laughed nervously. "Oh! Okay, um... Magic Pocket Watch? Would ya please turn back time to when these damned books weren't scattered across the floor?"

A distant whisper sounded "Yessssss..."

Julian took a step back. "Komodo Joe? Killer, dude!"

The ticking Pocket Watch suddenly started to turn its hands counterclockwise. When said magical tool stopped, all the books were back in their respective places on the shelves. Well, all except one, I suppose...

"Man, this thing really works!" Julian exclaimed. Then he turned his gaze back on the former book induced mess. "Hey, wait, there's one more left on the floor." He went to go pick it up, but the room went black, and he couldn't see a damned thing again. He sighed harshly.

_Innocent One... Release... LET GO OF YOUR DAMNED EGO! I am... trapped within... the 'Sealed Library'. (Which was stupid cuz this girl said 'liberry' today and she was like 22 years old. Pfft)_

The book disappears all of a sudden, and the room is illuminated again.

"It's the same voice from my dream... 'Sealed Library? Where the Hades is that?"

Julian goes back to Father Andrew's classroom, where he has strived to become a Crest Sorceror for ten freakin' years.

"It's about time you got back!" the red haired Chris exclaimed. Then Julian told him about the Sealed Library thing. "'Sealed Library', eh? Hmm... that rumor has been floating around forever. You should ask Father Andrew, Jacqui the chef and Shia the Motormouth about it."

"That's a good idea," Julian said with gratitude.

He walks to Father Andrew and tells him about the conundrum he is in.

"So a book spoke to you... I guess your journey as the Innocent One is about to start."

Julian looked at Father Andrew with a 'What the Hades'? look on his face. _Is Father Andrew out of his freakin' mind? What is it with this damned Innocent One crap? Ugh..._

"Julian? Julian? Hello? You can come out now," Father Andrew said while waving a hand in front of the Crest Sorceror's face.

"I'm awake! I was awake. It wasn't a dream, I was totally awake... But it was the same voice from my dream I guess. It said it was trapped within the Sealed Library...?"

"The 'Sealed Library'..." Father Andrew trailed off for a second, then continued on. "A ruin with that name does exist. Where it is... that I cannot tell you. You were sent by the Guardian to find it. If you truly are the Innocent/chosen one, then you are to find it by yourself."

Julian laughed nervously, then added sarcastically, "That's reassuring."

He didn't notice Miranda was on Father Andrew's left side. Or at least not until she said, "Thanks for the help, Julian."

"Yeah," he said hastily, shuddering afterwards.

Then he turned on his heel and walked to the kitchen, to go talk to Jacqui the Chef.

------------------------------

10 minutes later...

He had talked to Jacqui the Chef, Shia the Motormouth and Marnie, who's the assistant of the magic binder, hanging out to the left of the Magic Guild.

Now he was in the courtyard. He just got done pressing the (not - so) hidden buttons on the statues of the Mages, and he was pushing the second into place, so they could face each other.

"Uh," he grunted. "Now, that's the last statue in place. Now I should be able to use the Tear Drop..."

He stepped so he would be exactly between the two statues. Then he held the Tear Drop above his head at arm's length. After it collected all the blue sparkle things, two blue lights appeared and circled Julian about 4 times. Then they shot into the academy.

"HEY! WAIT FOR MEEE!" Julian yelled, while dashing toward the direction the two blue spherical lights went.

_I am the Eternal Darkness... Innocent One... bring me your inner light..._

Then a strange symbol/seal appeared on the wall.

Figuring 'bring me your inner light' meant 'use the Tear Drop, asswipe!', Julian held the Tear Drop again above his head at arm's length. Then he teleported to a remote location. Right away, he could sense that something was wrong here. It wasn't a feeling of safety he got around the teachers from the Curan Abbey. Well, all except Anje, of course, because he always got this weird vibe from her (hence the frightening look on his face when she told him she needed him to do something for her).

Before he took one step, he ate the three Power Apples that had mysteriously appeared in his knapsack. Then he got thwapped upside the head by a Blue Book.

"Argh... damn it!" then he turned around and saw his attacker. "What... the..." then he broke out laughing. "What kind of monster are you? I'd rather read you than fight you!" he laughed and laughed.

Then the Blue Book got really pissed off, and shot a beam of pure ice at Julian (his magic resistance wasn't very good, so he ended up getting really cold. Uh, I'm gonna resist a Crossfade reference here...)

Shaking and going 'brr...' Julian reached for his Mage Staff and the Flame crest graph and shouted out "FLAME!"

After the purple - black aura surrounding him disappeared, a double helix of fire balls (best description I could come up with, thanks Chibi!) hurdled toward the Ice type book, slaying the crap out of it.

10 minutes later... Julian was in front of a huge locked door... and still shivering from the Freeze spell the Blue Book had inflicted on him.

"Agh... so cold..."

Really, I am trying to hold back that reference right now. Really.

Anywho, he had picked up a crate earlier figuring, 'There was three, and since they're in the way, there's gotta be a catch or something...'

He sees a switch. A red switch. A suspicious red switch. Ahem. Anywho... he steps on it, and another one of those orange crystalline-y things appear.

_I was right! Booyaka, man..._

He threw the 5 pound brown crate at the orange crystal, and the crate collided with it, and it opened the door. Words couldn't describe the arrogance going through Julian's mind right now. He went through the huge passageway, to see a huge room, but, um, the lights faded to become dark again.

_You are close- uh... sorry, but what's your name again?_

Julian couldn't believe the ignorance of this guy. "JULIAN, DAMN IT! WHO'VE I GOT TO SLEEP WITH TO MAKE YOU REMEMBER THAT!"

_Again... (sigh) I'm more than 1,000 years old, Julian! You're gonna hafta be patient with me!_ the voice snapped. _Anyways, this is the 'Sealed Library'. There are three books, they are called the 'Books of Doors'. The flame is the key. Use the key to light the pathway..._

The room illuminates again. Then he sees the actual room.

_Three books, eh?_ Julian looked around. There are bookcases everywhere. _Oh, Guardians, this just couldn't be easy, could it? Oh, well, thank Solus Emsu for my quick intelligence..._

Fifteen minutes later, he has found the three books (one was east of the flame, one southwest (but not on the floor the stairs to the flame led to) of the flame, and one in the eastern part of the library, and thrown them all in the fire. He descends the stairs and and he went into the newly opened door. He goes to the left bookcase.

_There is a book called De Le Metallica. Would you like to read it?_

"Sure," Julian replied. He tried to open said book, but he couldn't. It was sealed by some mystical force.

_HEY, JULIAN! I'M OVER HERE, YOU DUMBASS! _the voice said into Julian's mind.

Julian simply said, "Oh," and dropped De Le Metallica on the floor. What he didn't notice was that the book picked itself back up and levitated back onto the shelf.

He goes over to a table that had a closed book on it. He opened it, and all of a sudden, the pages turned by themselves to a page with a hideous looking monster on it. The caption read, "Nelgaul, the Book Monster." He hears a noise, so he turned his attention away to in front of him. Julian saw a multi - dimensional vortex, and what came out of it was the same demon that was on the page that book had turned itself to.

"SO!" the demon yelled. "A human wants to touch the forbidden book! Come, son of the way of magic! Become my flesh and blood in the book!"

DA DA! DA DA DA DA...

And so, the battle began.

"And why would I want to do that, you horrid creature?" Julian asked/yelled bitterly. "And you are not the shadow figure- hold on, let me rephrase that. Smartass shadow figure from my dream!"

"You're not gonna find anything out until you defeat me! Which isn't gonna happen, by the way!"

Julian scoffed. He pulled out his weapon, the Mage Staff. A purplish black aura surrounds him, and he yelled "FLAME!"

The same double helix of fireballs hurdled towards Nelgaul, and the result was him getting singed.

"Argh... BRUTAL ATTACK!" Nelgaul yelled, and he backs Julian into the corner.

"Whoa there, Tex..." Julian said as he slips out of Nelgaul's grasp. Another purplish black aura surrounds him, as he pulled out the gift Crest Graph he got from Sister Mary, the binding teacher, with the Valkyrie spell binded to it.

He yells out "VALKYRIE!". Eight technicolor disco ball like figures, or the Spiritual Psychedelics, as I like to call them, crash into Nelgaul on contact, leaving him lay motionless on the floor.

And what does Julian do? He goes over to the motionless demon and begins poking it with his Mage Staff. Unbelievable.

"Hey, dude? Are you all right?" Julian whispered to the 'seemingly' dead Nelgaul.

Nelgaul gets up again, full of energy, and pins Julian to the wall with his horns, taking him completely by surprise.

"Haha! Try to get out of this one, Princey!" Nelgaul yelled.

"Never call me Princey! I hate being called 'Royalty'!"

_And I do. I hate my father for sending me away for studying magic. I hate my father for sending me away because I reminded him to much of my mother for him to bear. My late mother._

With a premature tear in his eye, he yelled out, "I HATE YOU!" He was overtaken with anger. He would have to unleash his hidden power. Have to relieve this newly found anger. With that, he reached for his weapon, the purplish - black aura returning, and he yelled, "VALKYRIE!"

The Spiritual Psychedelics did about 2,000 HP damage to Nelgaul. Probably more HP than his maximum.

"NO! NO!" the deteriorating demon yelled. "How can you have so much power? You're only at level 3!"

Then he deteriorated until he was no more.

Julian, trembling, dropped to his knees. "How did I... what... what happened?" he gasped out to no one in particular.

Another one of those spherical blue lights appeared. It turned into the shadow figure from his dream. Then, it got its light back and it turned out to be some sort of turtle.

"Are you..?"

"Yes. I am Stoldark, Guardian of Water."

"So they are real."

"Yes. You are the Innocent One, Julian, even though, you don't want to admit it."

He got a quick scowl from Julian, he smirked arrogantly (well, if turtles can do that) and continued.

"You hold in your possession, the Tear Drop. So yes. Do you hear the anger of the land and the wind? The screams of the sea and the sky? The demons want Filgaia again, Julian! Even tho', I don't think they ever stopped wanting it."

"But-"

"Shut up! I'm in the moment here! Anywho, use my powers to protect Filgaia, Julian! It all starts with Lolithia..."

With that, Stoldark turned into a rune, and floated ever so slowly into his hands.

WATER RUNE acquired.

_Lolithia, huh? What could that mean?_

Then Julian was teleported back to the Curan Abbey. Father Andrew was blocking the path to the courtyard.

"Father Andrew!"

"Hello, Julian. Now you know your destiny as the Innocent One. No one can imagine the pain and pressure you must endure."

"Uh... p- pain and p- pressure?" he stuttered out with fear and anxiety.

"Yep. Walk proudly from the abbey, Julian, and go to Adlehyde and talk to your father."

_Ugh... my father is a bastard!_

He goes to leave the abbey. Just before he does, Miranda comes from behind him, spins him around and plants a wet one on his lips.

"Have a good life, Julian. Magic isn't the only thing you've learned here."

"This is true. You have a good life, too, Miranda."

"Will I ever see you again?"

Julian hesitated for a second before saying. "You probably will. I figure something's gonna happen to make me come back here."

"Be strong in your adventures, Julian."

She left Julian standing there. He left the abbey.

_The Guardians from the legends have spoken only to him. Without Julian knowing it, the wheels of destiny have started to turn. The Innocent One, who the Guardians speak of... The fate of Filgaia will rest on his and two others' shoulders. It will be an overwhelming feeling, but is it too much to overbear to be the sorceror of the ultimate power at such a young age?_

-----------------------------

Dani: I've got a riddle for you.

Rudy: Shoot.

Dani: Why can't a man living in Mobile, Alabama be buried on the west side of the Mississippi River?

Cecilia: ...

Rudy: ...

Jack: Cuz he's LIVING.

Rudy: (Submaxilla drops)

Cecilia: (Does the same)

Dani: Whoa. You actually got that right. (claps, gives Jack a smoothie)

Rudy: ... That was random.

Dani: Aw, shush before Cecilia sics her Valkyrie spell on you, all right?

Rudy: Ahem. Right.


	4. Whoa That Thing Is Freakin' HUGE!

Wild ARMs: Rehabitated and Rehabilitated (yes I know I misspelled)

by Black Fenril

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Disclaimer: Media Vision owns Wild ARMs. I don't. Well, I own the game, and I'm proud of it, too. And, I'm making my own shirt with Zed on it, so ha! (Laughs evilly) Anywho, yeah. I think Media Vision is a genius. How else could they come up with Wild ARMs? Khhk. Um, I don't own Fabio either... and I sure as Hades am GLAD that I don't. --

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Chapter 4:

Whoa... That Thing Is Freakin' HUGE!

-------------------

Cassie Roughnight is seen, her red eyes bloodshot from all the crying she's done. Looked a bit peculiar, too, when she looked like a fifteen year old boy and crying. Ahem. Anyways, yeah, she was made up as a guy.

All of a sudden, a voice sounds, loudly, "HOLY IONE PAUA! THERE'S BEEN AN ACCIDENT AT LOLITHIA'S TOMB!"

Cassie ran over to the left side of the gate of Adlehyde, out of the way, to let two men run past her, carrying another by his shoulders (well, armpits, to be exact) and his ankles. Didn't look very comfortable either.

"We must notify Professor Alan!" the injured one said.

"No!" the guy holding his ankles objected. "We must tend to the injured first; they are always are first concern."

They run off to the hospital. Cassie walks to this Professor's house. It was the ARM - upgrade place. Cassie knew exactly where to go because she had been there before, before she went to the dreaded village of Surf, to upgrade her ARM to about... I'd say 10 ATP.

Anywho, she ascends the stairs, while noticing the peculiar looking machine sitting behind the kid guarding it. Well, I wouldn't call it 'guarding' but he was there for some reason. Then, she talked to the Professor, noting that he was quite handsome, as was his assistant. But, that's not the case for right now, so just suck it up, all righty then?

Um, how about we give you his appearance?

Professor Alan was wearing a white Professor's lab coat, under it, khaki pants and a gold shirt. He had dirty blonde hair, which went down to about his shoulders. And he also had dark mysterious green eyes. Anyway, he was pretty much Professor Emma, but Alhazad style, all right?

"Whoa, what's all the commotion about?" Professor Alan asked no one in particular. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't-"

The man that was holding the injured dude by his shoulders (armpits!) ascended the stairs before Cassie could actually even get to talk to Professor Alan.

"Professor Alan! An earthquake has occured, and it unleashed monsters that were concealed in a remote place!"

Cassie turned white. _Earthquake... Oh, damn it..._

"All right!" Professor Alan yelled, pulling Cassie back into reality. "Gather everyone with military experience!" he commanded.

"No freakin' way! Nobody here has ever faced monsters before! You couldn't pay us enough to go in there!"

"Fine. I will do something about the monsters. You start working on the repairs. Got it?"

"All right!"

He leaves. Cassie still didn't have any blood left in her face.

"Hey? Hello? Uh, sir?" Professor Alan waved a hand in front of her face. "Can you fight?"  
Blinking a couple times, Cassie replied, "Yes."

"Show me your weapon."

Cassie pulled out her Long Knife sword, and her ARM.

"That's a really nice ARM you've got there. After the excavation, I'll work on it for you. I'll also pay you 500 gella if you manage to slay the monsters in Lolithia's Tomb. You'll also get to keep anything you find in there. Unless... uh, never mind. Bring friends if you can. Do not underestimate Lolithia's Tomb."

"F- Five hundred gella?" _It's not much for the job I'm about to do, but still, it's a lot better paying than my last one._

"Yup," Professor Alan replied, as he left for Lolithia's Tomb.

As Cassie left, she was muttering something about Lolithia's Tomb and 'friends'. Then she bumped into Eric Van Burace.

"Sorry," Cassie said while Eric helped her back up. She looked him over, and saw a sword sheathed at his side. "Can you fight?"

"Well, this sword ain't here just for decorative reasons," Eric replied sarcastically.

"You don't have to be rude. You see, I'm in this conundrum..."

Cassie told him the deal with Professor Alan and Lolithia's Tomb.

"Lolithia's Tomb..." Eric trailed off. "Hmm... how ironic. That's where I'm going. All right, kid. I'll go with ya. What are you addressed by?"

"...Rudy," Cassie replied.

With a hint of suspicion rolling around in his head, Eric ignored it. "All right then, Rudy. Let's go."

They walked to the gate of Adlehyde where they found Julian Adlehyde (but they didn't really know who he was) leaning against it.

Wanting to make a good impression on the two (he was going to be introduced as the prince tomorrow, so yeah), he asked them,"How are you two?"

"Fine," Eric replied.

"I'm good," Cassie also replied, as she looked him over. "You a fighter?"

"Well, I can hold my own with magic, if that's what you are inquiring," Julian said, a little irked at the gender - ambiguous boy who asked if he, of all people was a fighter. He looked the part... didn't he...?

Cassie sighed. "Yes."

"I'm Julian," he said while extending his hand out for Cassie to shake. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Cassie said as she shook his hand. "I'm Rudy."

"And I'm Eric. We're going to Lolithia's Tomb to go slay some monsters. You wanna come with?"

"Sure," Julian replied. "But let's get some better weaponry first. I'll treat."

So he led them to the weaponry shop where they got a Long Sword for Cassie, a Chrome Blade for Eric, and a Magical Rod for Julian.

_Hmm... this guy looks like a gentleman. I kind of like him. I wish I could show him my real gender... _Cassie thought.

"Ah... now let's go. Professor Alan is waiting!" Eric reminded her.

Cassie sighed again. "Right. Let's go."

----------------

At Lolithia's Tomb...

"Great. Now, the three of you should be able to break the seal. Behind the door with the cool demon statue lies a... well... you'll survive. You look courageous," the professor assured them.

While blushing a little, Julian thanked her.

"I don't think I even know your threes' names yet. I'm Professor Alan Hazad. And you?"

"Rudy Roughnight," Cassie introduced herself, lying. "And this is Eric Van Burace and Julian- wait. What's your last name?"

"Uh..." Julian hesitated for a bit. "Light."

"Khhk khhk! All right. Nice to meet you," she said while Cassie and Julian winced at her horrendous chuckle.

As they were walking and blowing up those damn rocks that always get in the way, they just talked and talked and told each other about their lives. In the situation they're in, I'd call it therapy.

Then Cassie felt another cramp in her stomach. _Damn it! Damned menstrual cramps... gah._ Then she winced again and put her hand to her stomach.

"Hey, Rudy... are you all right?" Julian asked her. "You're wincing."

"Of course I am!" Cassie lied, not being able to control the pitch of her voice at freakin' all. "I'll live. I just got a stomach ache. That's all."

"Okay, just wondering..." Julian said, while his mind wandered other places. Then a peculiar thought came into his mind: _Rudy doesn't seem like he's... a guy._

After regaining her composure, and cursing at herself for outbursting again in her mind, she asked Eric a question. "Hey, Eric? What's the mystery behind that torn up green ribbon you wear in your hair?"

"Um, one of my old girlfriends gave it to me," Eric said truthfully. "I kept it because we had a lot of awesome memories..." _And half the fact because it's the only thing to remember her by..._

"Er... I should stop being so nosy..." Cassie said.

Then a sprite like mouse came out of Eric's pocket.

"Hey, mousy. How are you? You haven't been out in a while." Eric greeted him.

"I've been good," Hanpan replied. Then he saw Cassie and Julian. "Uh, Eric? Who the Hades are these people?"

"Uh, mousy, I'm sorry. The kid with the hat's name is Rudy. And the kid with the long brunette hair is Julian. They're helping me with Lolithia's Tomb. Rudy, Julian, this is Hanpan. I'm used to calling him 'Mousy' so feel free to call him that, too!" Eric introduced them all.

"Yup. I'm one of the few sprites left on Filgaia. I met Eric when he was still a F-"

Realizing that Hanpan might reveal the secret that Eric wished to keep, he put a hand over the little Wind Mouse's mouth (or snout). "Sorry about him. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut," Eric said with a frown on his face.

Still a little in awe, Julian asked. "A sprite? Jeez, Hanpan! Can you fly?"

"O' course I can! I am a Wind Mouse after, with MAD WIND MOUSE SKILLZ!" Hanpan said with pride.

"A very klutzy Wind Mouse who uses that Xenogears reference a bit too much, yeah," Eric corrected.

"I am NOT a klutz!" Hanpan cried with offense.

"Sorry, mousy, but it is true."

Then Cassie all of a sudden bumped into something (she was leading the pack, ya know). She looked up.

"Hey, isn't this the cool demon statue that Professor Alan was talking about?" she asked.

Eric then checks it over. "Uh, I think so." Then he notices a button on the back. "Hmm... what's this do?"  
Then he pushed it.

4 of the same gold type box thingers that he had pushed in the Temple of Memory a day back appeared in front of them.

"Oh, my Guardians..." Julian gasped. "I suppose we're supposed to put these in some respective place?"

Eric then notices 4 squares in the corners of the square surrounding the statue. "Uh... let me take care of this..."

In about 30 seconds... the four boxes were pushed in place. The demon statue and the four boxes disappear and the energy from it pushes Eric to the ground. A case of stairs builds up, and after that finishes, a bridge extends to the door, which is closed. They go up to the door.

"How the Hades do we open this door?" Eric asked while raising his foot to kick it. He kicks it, but it doesn't even budge. Then he gets pissed off and starts striking at it with his sword.

"Calm down, my overstimulated friend," Julian says while pushing the very much pissed off blonde swordsman away from the door gently. "Let me handle this..."

Julian took out his Tear Drop and held it high above his head with pride and dignity..

"Y- You're the Innocent One?" Cassie asked him in disbelief.

"How did you know that? Er... rather, how long have you known that?"

"Well, only the Innocent One can wield the Tear Drop..." Cassie explained.

"Aw, well..."

The door opens. They try to go through it, but something pushes them back. Then it came out to be... Barbara Streisand? What the Hades? That's not right...

No, no, it was something much worse than that: FABIO!

"What? Who the Hades... wait... Fabio? What kind of demon is this?" Julian teased.

Fabio got pissed off and took on his more frightening form. A Magtourtous. It almost clawed Julian, and would have to, if Cassie hadn't lunged at him from his left side and knocked him over, resulting in her being on top of him (and let's just say in the appearance she's in ((being that she looks like a guy)) well, eheh... you get the picture)

"NO! You could have gotten yourself killed!" Cassie yelled in a high voice; her girl voice. This left Julian uber - confused.

DA DA! DA DA DA Da...

And so the battle begins...

_Ah, whatever... I'll worry about it later..._Julian thought.

Eric unsheathed his sword while yelling out "PSYCHO CRACK!". His Chrome Blade sliced through the Magtourtous slowly and painfully, causing it to scream (or grunt ...?) in pain. As the sword cracked through it, beams of light shot out from everwhere, and a high pitched 'cree' was heard. Anyways, it did about 200 HP damage to the Magtourtous.

Julian whipped out his staff (er... eheh, the weapon), and screamed out "VALKYRIE!" as the purplish black aura we all know and love surrounded him. The Spiritual Psychedelics crashed into the turtle/triceratops like demon, each hurting a little bit more than the last. Er... cool, I have an exact number this time. 546 HP damage.

The Magtourtous couldn't talk, so it let its EM Laser do the talking. And talk (or attack) it did. 3 lasers were emitted from two of the long horns (...?) coming out of its shell, and one from the long horn on its head. They made contact with the three warriors, and doing about 150 damage apiece.

"ARGH!" Eric yelled. He had gotten hit in the stomach. And the tips of his 'ponytail' was fried, also.

And the cramp was back in Cassie's stomach. She fell to her knees, clutching her stomach.

"You guys! Don't leave me hanging! Damn..."

"Psycho Crack..." Eric said weakly while unsheathing his sword again. As he jumped slowly to the Magtourtous, and brought his Chrome Blade down slowly upon it, weaker lights came out from everywhere, clearly not as bright as the last time. Eric did about 50 HP damage to the Magtourtous, confusing it.

Julian held up his Magical Rod. "Mystic..." he whispered, and he threw a Heal Berry up into the air. Said Heal Berry multiplied three times and healed all three of them 200 HP's worth.

They regained their strength, but Cassie was still at her knees, moaning softly in pain.

"Rudy! Are you sure you're all right?" Julian asked 'Rudy' as he dropped to his knees at her side.

"I can't move..." she gasped out. "The cramp... it's too great. I can't-" then she fainted.

While unsheathing his sword again... aw screw it, I'll just say Eric attacked with Psycho Crack and did about 500 HP damage. "Come on, Julian! Just forget about him for now."

"Fine..." Julian agreed while standing up. Then he looked at the Magtourtous with rage in his eyes. "You did this to him! You're going to pay like my father is going to! I HATE YOU FATHER!" A strong purplish black aura again surrounds him. "VALKYRIIIIIIIIIE!"

He again created the Spiritual Psychedelics and they crashed into the Magtourtous, killing it on contact, doing about 2500 HP damage. It deteriorated until it was no more...

He had expected this power to come up, so he didn't drop to his knees at that this time.

"Rudy!" he screamed out to the unconscious fifteen year old. He dropped to his knees at her side.

"Damn it, Julian, why do you care so much about him?"

"Well... first of all, 'he' is a 'her'," Julian said before taking off Cassie's hat gently and letting her long shiny blue fall down to the ground. "So yeah."

Eric gaped at the blue haired ARMslinger. "But... how did you know that?"

"You heard her yell. Do you not know a girls' scream from a guy's? Seriously, Eric!" Julian chided at the blonde swordsman. "Her face was just too pretty, and her legs- well, they just couldn't belong to a guy!"

After hesitating for a moment, Eric snapped, "I still don't totally believe he's a guy. And I won't until I see for myself."

Not actually clicking in his head what the Fast Draw expert meant, Julian swore, "Damn it! Whatever... I don't care," Julian said while putting Cassie's hair neatly back into her hat. Then he picked her up. "Now let's go check out what's in that next room..."

---------------------

Lolithia. The Ice Golem. It wasn't big, it was freakin' HUGE! It stood at about 50 feet or better. Wasn't really something you'd want to mess with, if I do say so myself. It had a big red eye in the middle of its face. Eheh...

"Oh, my freakin' Guardians... Mousy? Is this Lolithia?" Eric asked his little Wind Mouse companion.

"Y- yes..." Hanpan stuttered. "So this is Lolithia..."

"This is way too big! I probably couldn't even lift it! This is the 'Absolute Power'..." Eric then sighed.

"He's mad! But he is right, I probably couldn't even lift it."

"Agh... I don't have any use for this... Come on, you guys. Let's notify Professor Alan about this and get the Hades out of here..." Eric demanded.

----------------------

10 minutes pass before they get back to Professor Alan.

"Khhk! I knew there was a golem hidden deep inside this ruin! I knew I had good karma! Well, no use just sitting here! Take some of my crew with you," Alan said, while leaving for the golem.

"Wow, he sure is bossy..." Eric remarked.

"Ah, slave drivers... can't live with 'em, can definitely live without them..." Julian remarked.

----------------------

10 more minutes pass before Eric, Julian and the now unconscious Cassie in his arms stand in front of Lolithia. A couple seconds later, 4 of Professor Alan's crew members ran in behind them. Then a few seconds after that, Professor Alan came down, hanging one leg off of the platform that was bringing him down. When he finally gets to the ground...

"All right. Thanks for finding it, Ru- well, now unconscious Rudy, Eric and Julian. Okay, crew! Let's bring her up! And don't worry, you definitely won't break it," Professor Alan commanded.

As the crew were working on chaining up Lolithia...

"Tell me, Julian," Eric began. "Why do you hate your father?"

"I will tell you and Rudy or whatever her name is when I'm ready. The rage I have on my father comes out in the challenges I face. So that's why my Valkyrie spell was so strong," Julian replied.

"All right. I can wait. Even though, mousy here, he gets impatient."

Julian then anime sweatdropped. "Eheh... Hanpan, right. How's he doing?"

"Well, he's sleeping right now. But I suppose when the little Wind Mouse hears his name, he wakes right -"

"Somebody say my name?" Hanpan said while peeking his little mousy head out of Eric's pocket. "Huh?"

"Uh, hello, again, Hanpan. You remember Rudy, right? Well, she went unconscious in the battle we just faced against that Magtourtous..." Julian explained.

"She?"

"Long story..."

"Eheh... right. It's none of your business anyway, mousy..." Eric chided at the mouse.

"Well, if there's nothing for me to do, then I will go sleepy night - night," Hanpan said while withdrawing his head back into Eric's trench coat pocket.

After that brief conversation, Julian stared at Cassie's innocent, pretty face.

_Man, Rudy has to be female! A guy having this much beauty is redundant! She has the most unusual red eyes, but they are pretty nonetheless. And the blue hair... I wonder why... Oh, well, that doesn't matter. Why do you hide your gender? What's your real name? And of course, the most important question... _Julian smirked arrogantly as he thought the next bit. _What's your bra size?_

"Okay! Let's pull her out!" Professor Alan yelled, pulling Julian back into reality. He got back onto the platform, and was lifted out, as well as Lolithia, of the tomb.

-----------------------

30 seconds later, on the mountains above Lolithia's Tomb...

"My Alan - Motor worked! Oh, how I love myself right now! All right, please let me introduce to you, Lolithia, one of the eight golems. Isn't she cuuuute? Khhk. Anywho, this is one of the three golems that are going to be displayed tomorrow at the Ruin Festival. I can't pay you today, since I will be too preoccupied with preparing for the festival tomorrow. Come by and talk to me tomorrow. I'll pay you then..."

------------------------

5 minutes later, back in Adlehyde...

"Ah, kay. Tomorrow, we will go to the Ruin Festival together. Then we'll go to Professor Alan and get paid. After tomorrow, Hanpan and I will go on to the next ruin," Eric explained.

"We're parting so soon?" the brunette boy asked the blonde swordsman.

Nah, Julian. That'd be redundant. And plus, this story would probably be a looooooot shorter. (Sweatdrops)

"It's the life of a Dream Chaser. Never to know where you're gonna go next," Eric explained. "Well, let's get back to the inn. We will-"

"Okay, we get it!" Hanpan yelled as loud as his little Wind Mouse voice would allow him to.

------------------------

20 seconds later, at the Adlehyde inn...

"Welcome to the Adlehyde Inn," the innkeeper greeted warmly (maybe a bit too much so). "It is 30 gella per night. Would you like to stay?"

"Yeah," Eric replied quickly, while slapping down 30 gella.

"Well, here's Rudy," Julian said, while handing Cassie over to Eric like a baby. "Take good care of her, and don't fall asleep until she regains consciousness, all right? Anyway, I have no clue why I was called to the north ruin. I will join you in the festival tomorrow. I might not be able to see you again after that. I just hope you will respect me as much as I have respected you."

"Bye, Julian."

"Bye, Eric," Julian said while turning on his heel, and walking out of the inn, and reverting his path to Adlehyde Castle, wondering what his father will say to him once he sees him again.

--------------------------

Later that evening...

Eric had gone out to the Dew Point, a popular restaurant in Adlehyde, to get some food for the two. Or three, if you count Hanpan. Anywho, he left the unconscious Cassie lying on the bed, and of course, she would regain consciousness while Eric was away.

Cassie sat up in bed, holding her forehead with her left hand. _Oh, man, what did I do last night?_ She looked around. "Julian?"

No answer.

"Eric?"

Again, no answer.

_Hmm... might as well change into my night clothes since I'm alone... when exactly was the last time I washed this damned white shirt? It itches so baaaaaad!_

She undid the binders which concealed her femininity, took the red vest completely off, then set it on the bed. Then she took off the dirty, wretched white shirt. As she was unhooking her bra, you'll never guess who came up the stairs.

Eric, the blonde swordsman we all know and love. Er... well, some of us, anyway. (smiles)

Eric gaped at the blue haired ARMslinger once again (us hoping he won't make a habit out of this). He just stood there for a second with his submaxilla completely dropped. (For those without a dictionary, your submaxilla is the bottom part of your jaw).

Cassie, humming the happy little tune of "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads (the midi of which I am listening to right now) didn't notice the blonde swordsman, and his pervert little Wind Mouse companion also gaping at said 15 year old. She just turned around for a second, looked up, saw the blonde swordsman, and almost screamed.

"Rudy's actually a girl... huh..."

"Eric! I thought I was alone!" Cassie said as she held her beaten red vest in front of her modestly.

"So Julian was right. What's your real name this time? And don't lie!"

Cassie sighed. "I'm Cassie Roughnight. Where is Julian anyway? And how did he know I was a girl?"

"He knew by the highness of the pitch of your voice when you screamed that he could have killed himself."

"Agh... yeah, I guess."

"I didn't totally believe him, but now I know. He also showed me this," Eric said softly as he walked toward her and gently took her (totally dorky) hat off. Cassie's blue hair once again cascaded down her shoulders and fell to 3/4 down her back.

"Does he know my actual name?"

"No. He doesn't yet, but he's gonna find out..."

"Man..."

"Why do you hide your gender, Cassie?"

_Oh, great another one of these explanations... _"Because if people see me a female, when I apply for jobs, they reject me. But when I'm a guy, they don't. Especially that damned stable owner in Surf Village..."

"I'm not gonna ask about that," Eric said.

"Well," Cassie started. "Would you please turn your back so I can dress myself?"

"Of course," Eric replied brightly while turning around.

---------------------

The next morning...

_THE DAY OF THE FESTIVAL HAS ARRIVED..._

Eric woke up to the sound of Cassie's steady breathing. He had been sleeping on his back, so he turned the direction of his head to the left. There was Cassie, on the other side of him, sleeping soundly. And Hanpan was sleeping on her stomach.

"Er..." he looked at the blissfully asleep ARMslinger for a moment longer, then cautiously got out of bed, trying not to wake her up. He would have, but thank the Guardians that bed was TempurPedic, no?

So, he went into the bathroom to wash his face, brush his teeth, do the three 'S's' and yeah. He went back to the bedroom to find the fifteen year old sitting on the edge of his bed.

She immediately stood up and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, Eric. I crawled into your bed last night because there was a huge crash of thunder last night. I got scared..."

"It's all right, Cassie... come here," Eric forgave, holding his arms out. She ran into them and they embraced tightly.

"Sometimes, I'm just a frightened little girl. I think my ARM is my only protector... but..."

"It's all right, Cassie! I'm here, I'll protect you. Just don't..." Eric trailed off.

_Oh, Grandfather, what should I do? I don't want to do this!_

Cassie pulled out of the hug. Then Eric said, "Look, we've gotta get to that Ruin Festival thingamabobber. We're running out of time!" Eric reminded the blue haired girl.

All of a sudden, "No Time" by the Guess Who starts playing.

"Right. I'll go take a shower and then we'll get out of here."

After she gets in the shower...

"AHHH! ERIC! WHY DID YOU USE UP ALL THE HOT WATER?" Cassie chided/yelled at the blonde swordsman.

"Sorry, Cassie... eheh..."

Cassie calmed down and then said, "It's all right, I'll live..."

After Cassie was done (with her shower)...

"You know, I don't think I told you how hard Julian worked to get you here... He carried you two times through Lolithia's Tomb and he also carried you from there to here. He made me stay awake the whole night until you regained consciousness. He obviously likes you, Cassie, and he wasn't too sure if you were male or female. I don't really think he cared..." Eric informed.

Cassie came out of the bathroom looking like a whole new person. An orange t shirt with the words "To the love, I left my conscience pressed through the keyhole, I watched you dress, kiss and tell..." was under the battered red vest she usually wore. She had on teal skinny jeans, and the same boots she had on earlier, which almost went up to her knees. Oh, and that dorky hat? She had thrown it away and it was in the trash can over by the desk. Her hair was down, and straight, and it shined like a diamond in sunlight. And her face... the only trace of makeup Eric could detect was... nothing. She liked her face natural. Oh, and yeah, she had her Hand Cannon between her and her belt again.

"Man, Cassie... you look divine. Julian would fall for you in a second..." _And so would I... _Eric extended his hand for her to take. "Now, let's go reload the ammunition for your ARM... and upgrade it a little... we got like, what, 10,000 extra gella from Lolithia's Tomb, right?"

Nodding, Cassie took his hand. She liked this guy. Eric Van Burace was a really nice man. But... Julian was even more so...

They paid for the ammunition to the guy downstairs. Then... they RAN to Professor Alan's house, up the stairs.

"We want my sweet little Hand Cannon upgraded to 55 ATP!" Cassie exclaimed proudly, while slapping down the 10,000 extra gella Eric was talking about. Cassie had entrusted Eric with the rest of the gella, fearing she might just spend it all on her ARM, and that was gella they wanted to spend in the festival.

--------------

15 minutes later, after Alan's assistant had finished upgrading the ARM...

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Eric asked while grasping her hand again. "Let's crash the Ruin Festival!"

--------------

Meanwhile... Julian was still asleep in his room. His room in Adlehyde Castle. As Adlehyde Castle's theme played, Julian lie blissfully asleep. Then the Water Rune on the left side of him began to glow.

"Innocent One..." Stoldark whispered. Then he yelled "HEY! JULIAN! WAKE THE HADES UP! THE FESTIVAL HAS STARTED ALREADY!"

Julian then muttered something about Rudy Roughnight and chocolate sauce, then Chelsea Winslow, the famous female Dream Chaser who is the current champion of the Ancient Arena, and Magic Carrots.

_Ugh... here I go into his dreams... who knows what I'm gonna find in there..._

Stoldark's spirit was then transported into Julian's dream.

_Oh, my... Really, why couldn't have they hired Dan Dairam, or Stare Roe, or somebody else besides me for this job? I mean... Zephyr help me... they're more patient than I am... and look at this place!_

There was chocolate sauce splattered all over the walls, as well as various posters of AFI were in random places. As Stoldark's spirit floats through the place, he finds conditions more and more disgusting. Empty pizza boxes... a roach wouldn't even live there.

Anyway, when Stoldark finally finds Julian, he's sitting on a queen size TempurPedic bed next to Cassie, explaining to her his past, his father, and why he hates him so much. Anywho, Chelsea Winslow was in the corner with Joan Jett, both clinging to each others' shoulders doing the cancan in Magic Carrot costumes.

"Hey, Julian!" Stoldark yelled, trying to get his attention.

"Oh..." Julian looked up. "Hey, Stoldark. This is Rudy, the girl of my dreams," Julian introduced. "What are you doing here?"

"To wake you up! The Ruin Festival has started already," Stoldark informed.

"Oh. Okay. Just give me a couple minutes to regroup. Then I'll wake up."

A few minutes later, back in reality. Well, uh... reality of Filgaia (smiles nervously).

Julian opened his shimmering pool like cerulean eyes, sat up in bed, and stretched forth his arms, while sighing contentedly.

"Ahh... that was a good nine hours of sleep. Heh. Sleeping pill commercials... thanks, Ambien. Agh," Julian scowled. He went to take a shower and et cetera. He came out wearing an AFI shirt, jeans, black NSS's, a gold watch and a smile on his face.

"Let's do this thing."

When he tries to leave, his father (the king, or rather, referred by Julian as 'a bastard') sees him and stops him to talk to him.

--------------------

The Ruin Festival. Hustle and bustle all about. Mostly around the golem exhibits. Adlehyde's own Lolithia is at the bottom vertex of the triangle the golem exhibits formed. Diablo, from Arctica to the left, and Barbados, from the Ocean of Sand, to the right.

Cassie and Eric find Professor Alan in the Ruin Festival admiring her work/playing a rather bad game of Strike Ball.

"Khhk! I know I'll get it in the middle this time!" he threw the red striped ball at the middle, but missed by a mile, and it ended up in the beige part, about 10 feet away from the middle. "Damn it!"

"Professor Alan?" Cassie asked him.

"Rudy?" Professor Alan turns around and expects to see the gender - ambiguous boy, but all he sees is the attractive, blue haired girl. "You're not Rudy... but you're very beautiful."

Cassie blushed at this statement. "Eheh... thank you... I'm Cassie Roughnight. There was a reason I hid my gender, but I'd rather not get into it right now."

"Okay, well... here, as promised, is the 500 gella," Professor Alan said while thrusting a tan bag with the gella currency sign on it into Eric's arms.

500 gella acquired.

"Well, hello, Eric, nice to see you again. Khhk, khhk, khhk. Well, I might as well get back to my game. Be sure to check out everything. You just might find something you like. And plus, there may never be another one..." Professor Alan trailed off.

"That's right! Cassie, let's go check out that 'Ultimate Chicken' game. There's gotta be a nice prize in there, cuz I'll be risking my nose..."

Professor Alan slapped 30 more gella down and threw the ball at the Strike target once again. It landed in the middle... but bounced to the beige part.

"DAMN IT!"

-----------------------

After 35 games of chicken- oh, let me rephrase that, Ultimate Chicken (bawk bawk) (Dani rolls her eyes), 30 Magic Carrots, 2 antidotes and 3 potion berries later...

"Oh, man..." Eric gasped. "I'm glad I have a short nose."

"Funny. Have you considered becoming a stand up comedian as your career?"

"Now, you're just being sarcastic. We don't have any money left. Just 4 gella!" Eric informed.

"I know what we should do. Come on," Cassie beckoned while grabbing hold of his hand. She ran to the lady selling Small Flowers.

"Flower? Only 2 gella for one," the Flower Lady offered.

"Sure," Cassie replied while handing her 2 gella. The Flower Lady handed her back a white, pure pretty flower.

"Thank you. Take care."

----------------------

One second later.

"Flower? Only 2 gella for one," the Flower Lady offered.

"Sure," Cassie replied while handing her 2 gella. The Flower Lady handed her back a white, pure, pretty flower.

"Thank you. Take care."

"You gots it," Eric said.

You do realize that I was making fun of the game, right? I hope you aren't that dense. --

Cassie and Eric walked away from the (cough) mechanical (cough) Flower Lady so she wouldn't ask them if they would buy another.

"Well, Eric... now we don't have any gella left. What do you think Julian's gonna say?"

"Julian... where is that guy anyway? I thought he said he was gonna join us for the festival..."

Just then, a really desperate (not that kind of desperate) woman looking for her lost kid ran up to the duo.

"BILLY? Where are you, Billy! Sir, ma'am, would you help me find my child? He's about 3 feet tall, blond hair, brown eyes. He also has a red balloon. Please help me find him..."

"Okay, lady, calm down. We'll ask around," Eric reassured her.

About 5 minutes later...

They had asked everybody and somebody said that he went back into town.

They looked around Adlehyde, trying to find the lost boy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Dani: So, that's end chapter 4.

Rudy: That didn't go as bad as I thought it would.

Jack: Okay, tell me, Dani... why?

Dani: Why what, Van Burace?

Jack: You know...

Dani: Oh, yeah. Well, um, that's just my own sick twisted imagination's fault. Heehee... that's gonna blossom into a whole 'nother thing later.

Rudy: Yay for us.

Cecilia: Oooh... boy...


	5. The Fall of King Adlehyde

Wild ARMs: Rehabitated and Rehabilitated

by Black Fenril

--------------------

Disclaimer: Media Vision owns Wild ARMs (the lucky people) I do not own Wild ARMs in any specific way, shape or form... except of course, a copy of the first game and Tara was an original character. So nyah! Oh, and an update on that Zed shirt thingy... I still need to do some seaming on that... eheh...

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Chapter 5:

The Fall of King Adlehyde

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Before I had left off...

Cassie and Eric had searched the entire town before they found the little blonde kid. He was south of Mayor Cuthbert's house, north of the Magic Guild.

"There you are!" Cassie was relieved. "Little boy, your mom's looking all over for you. Did you know that?"

"Cassie, calm down!" Eric demanded at the blue haired gunslinger. "Now, come with Uncle Eric and Auntie Cassie, all right? We'll take you to your mother..." Eric told him while extending his left hand (his right was occupied by Cassie's).

Billy hesitated for a second, then reached his hand out to Eric's. As his hand opened to clasp onto Eric's hand, he let go of his balloon.

"Oh! My balloon!" Billy exclaimed.

As the balloon floats up into the cloudless blue sky, all the people, including them, look after it.

_A storm quickly spreads over the city. The laughter and murmur cease. The people of Adlehyde (and also the other Festival - goers) watch helplessly as the lightning strikes. The sky is cracking. A wall of fire rushes across the horizon. The beginning of the end is here..._

Meteors pelt the city. When the smoke clears, everybody, including Billy, around Cassie and Eric was dead.

"Billy! Are you all right?" Cassie asked while looking down at said 8 year old. A badly singed, obviously dead Billy lie on the ground, and Cassie quickly covered her mouth. "Oh, my Guardians... Eric, please don't be dead..."

"I'm not dead!" the blonde swordsman retorted while coming into the sight of the now very much relieved ARMslinger. "We have to look for survivors... well, if there are any..."

Then, the meteors turn into monsters. And think, the meteors had pelted the entire city. They are now roaming the city, wreaking havoc!

"Damn it! We just can't win..." Eric exasperated while tightening his grip on Cassie's hand.

They dodged every monster they could. They found survivors in: the cemetary, by the statue of Zeldukes, in the hospital, the house southeast of the entrance of Adlehyde Castle, in the forest, in the pub, upstairs in the inn, northeast of Alan's house, in the chapel and... the house south of Mayor Cuthbert's house.

Then Cassie spied Julian surrounded by monsters...

------------------

"I CAN TAKE YOU! COME ON!" Julian yelled at a nearby skeleton. Then the skeleton flung its axe at him. It barely missed him. "AH!"

Julian whipped out his staff and the Spiritual Psychedelics were again summoned and crashed into all four of his opposers. They were killed on contact.

"JULIAN!" Cassie shouted.

"R-Rudy?" the brunette Crest Sorceror turned around.

"I will tell you later! Come on, Eric... we might as well go inside. Julian kicked these monsters' butts to the imaginary day of February 33rd!"

"Hey, thanks for the break, kid," Eric said while patting Julian on the back.

"Yeah. Thanks to you two, we were able to save most of the survivors..." Julian thanked both of them.

"'Most of the survivors'? You mean there are more?" Eric asked Julian while turning back toward the burning city to go rescue the rest of the survivors.

"No! There were 10 survivors. I saw it in a vision... you have saved all ten."

"Okay," Eric was relieved. "Thank the Guardians..."

"Let's go in, everybody! The castle will hold up until we can do something..." Julian informed the ten people standing behind Eric and Cassie.

Then they made their way up to the castle...

-----------------------

And ugly green... thing holding a ball-and-chain comes up to two monsters.

"Ha ha! Humans... they did nothing to hold us off! Har! Yes..."

"Master Belselk! They are hiding in the castle!" the monster to the left of him informed him.

"AND NOW THEY'RE HIDING!" Belselk boomed. "THE HUMANS ARE COWARDS!"

A monster comes up to him, fresh from checking out the festival grounds.

"Well? Are they here?" Belselk asked the Lizardman.

"Yes, Master Belselk. They are all junk," the monster said in unison.

"All junk? Good! We don't want to fight these things... Tell the humans going into the castle to surrender the Tear Drop or we will invade the castle and slaughter everyone in sight until we find it!" Belselk commanded.

"Yes, Master Belselk..."

----------------------

"Prince Julian! The king has been injured! Oh, what are we to do?" the knight standing in front of the entrance to the throne room informed him.

"Prince Julian? You're a prince?" Eric asked him, both in shock and disbelief.

"Yes, let me explain later. Father... my Guardians... what stupid thing did you do this time?" Julian whispered.

"My real name is Cassie Roughnight, Julian. And Eric, if we don't support him in times like this, who will?"

"Right! Let's go to your father..."

-----------------------

7 minutes later, in the king's quarters...

"The king is being treated in here. Please go talk to him before he..." the knight standing guard to the king's quarters trailed off.

Julian, Cassie and Eric run to the king's bed. Julian kneels down and takes his father's free hand. He looked up to see that the king's other one was hooked up to an IV tube.

"Julian... monsters have attacked Adlehyde... They are after you! You must defeat them!" the king exclaimed.

A knight runs to his bed with the latest news.

"Prince Julian! King Adlehyde... The demons demand that you are to surrender the Tear Drop or they will storm Adlehyde Castle!"

Julian turned toward the knight. "The Tear Drop was my mother's. She gave it to me right before she died. I hold it very close to my heart... but I will give it up for the sake of the people and my castle... The demons can have my Tear Drop."

"No!" the king yelled weakly. "I will not permit it! Julian, the Tear Drop, in the wrong hands could destroy Filgaia! And plus, it is the only link to the Guardians we have!"

"But if I don't do anything, a lot of innocent people will die because of me!"

"Listen, Julian! Stay in your room, no matter what happens! Do you understand?"

"Of course I do! I'm not the stupid, mentally retarded kid you think I am!" Julian yelled back in his injured father, offended and hurt.

Julian, Cassie and Eric were escorted by three knights to his room. While they did this, Julian held the Tear Drop in his hand tightly, the Tear Drop pulsating in rhythm to his heart, roughly and fast.

"DAMN IT! I suppose I should tell you now my history since you now know the secret I have been keeping from you..." Julian said while kicking his bed multiple times.

"It's all right, Julian... It's all right... just please... don't do anymore violent things.." Cassie told him.

"I'm sorry, Cassie. I'm just so pissed off at my father. He's done so many damned dumb things in his life," he said, then sighed before continuing. "When I was 7 years old, my mother was taken abed by pneumonia. The doctors tried everything they could to save her... but nothing would work. Then one July night, as I was watching her sleep, holding her hands in mine, she stopped breathing. and the machine that was monitoring sounded a long, high pitched beep... I tried to call the doctor in and he came, but he said that she was- well... it was too late. She died in the best way she could, in her sleep. Father sent me away to the Curan Abbey the next day. He sent me away when I needed him most! That made me furious! So I let out my rage in the challenges I face. But not one time have I been relieved! Not one single freakin' time!"

He was Cassie's arms right now, embracing her tightly. He was crying, she was crying. Eric was even stifling a cry.

"Your father... so this is why you hate him so much. I couldn't have..." Cassie was at a loss for words, so she just hugged Julian tighter.

"Well, enough about him. We have to go give the demons the Tear Drop. He cares more for this damned thing than he does the lives of the people," Julian said before sighing. "Let's go."

-----------------------

10 minutes later, after evading countless knights, Julian saw the border of the kitchen. Boy, was he relieved.

"CHEF ALEKSANDER!" Julian called/yelled.

"Yes, Prince Julian?" the chef asked the prince nervously.

"Is that path that leads from here to Adlehyde still there?"

"Affirmative, Prince Julian. But you do realize that there is a curfew here in Adlehyde. Do you still want to go?"

"I don't have a choice. Adlehyde Castle and the people of Adlehyde are too important to have a choice whether to or not," Julian explained.

"All right. Follow me."

"'Kay," Julian agreed.

Chef Aleksander leads them to a part of the floor just south of the flavoring station he was working at. Then he stops them. Chef Aleksander goes to a barrel.

"There are powerful monsters down there..." he warned them.

"Don't worry, Chef Aleksander," Cassie assured him. "If we can defeat a Magtourtous/Fabio, we can definitely conquer this."

"Right!" Julian agreed proudly. "Let's do this thing."

Chef Aleksander nodded and pushed the barrel south. They all fall down. And then, CASSIE GETS ANOTHER CRAMP.

"Oh, crap!" the disgruntled ARMslinger exasperated as she fell to her knees. _I hate it when this happens! Guardians, why is this happening?_

"Cassie!" Julian yelled while dropping to his knees at her side. "What's wrong?"

"Another cramp... I'll be all right, Julian. Don't worry about me..." Cassie reassured him.

"I've spent the last two days worrying about you, Cassie. Don't make me stop now!" Julian exclaimed.

"Okay... er... you've done it before, right, Julian? Would you please carry me again?" Cassie asked him.

"Of course," Julian accepted, while standing on his feet again, bending down to pick her up again. "You don't weigh a lot, so yeah."

"Uh, thanks... I think..." Cassie thanked him... I think.

"Hey, something I didn't notice before. A magic encampment. Heh... imagine that..." Eric trailed off.

--------------------

15 minutes later...

"Another magic encampment? Geez..." Eric trailed off again.

"Well, maybe we should heal up because the monsters are probably still out there. So yeah..." Julian suggested.

They healed themselves to maximum HP. They were all at either level 9 or 10.

"Okay, I think I'm good now," Cassie told Julian. "Would you put me down now, please?"

Julian puts her down with no complaint. "If you feel queasy again, let me know..."

Cassie hugged Julian. "Thanks, Julian. I don't know what I would do without you..."

"Well, okay... wait. Did that knight say 'demon'?" Julian asked Eric.

"Er, yes. But what's that have to do with anything?"  
Eric inquired.

"Demons... that damned Yggdrasil! They used it again..."

Just then, a seemingly 25 year old woman with pink hair, a black cape and green dress holding a Maddened sword (a sword made of living metal) drop teleported in front of them.

"Hello, humans. I am Lady Scarlett, of the Quintuple knights!"

"You're not... TARA!" Eric goes to hug her, but she held her sword out in front of her, unabling him to come near her.

"Don't come near me, human! Or I will gut you with my sword!" Lady Scarlett threatened Eric.

"Tara... don't you remember me? I'm Eric, your boyfriend!" Eric asked her.

"ZED is my boyfriend. I don't have any relations with humans anyway..._ except Ryan and father..._

"This... Zed. What color is his hair?" Eric asked her.

"Green! You don't deserve to die by my hands! Belselk will take care of you.."

Then she reverse drop teleported out of there.

"TARA!" Eric yelled, running to the spot she was just at a couple seconds ago. Then he dropped to his knees. "Zed... when I see him, I'll kill him! One shot's all I'll need!"

"Cassie, calm him down... please," Julian said while motioning toward him.

"Eric... please..." she said while Eric's hand were almost pulling his blonde hair out of his head. She took his hands in hers and put them at his side. "This is infuriating you, I know... but you have to calm down.

"But- But..." Eric stammered.

"No damned buts! Do as she says!" Julian screamed.

"All right, all right... jeez..." Eric calmed waaaaay down.

"Hows about we get out of here? Belselk is waiting..." Julian suggested.

So they go down the stairs to the east of them.

"Gah. More boxes... Cassie go acquire what's in that chest," Eric demanded.

Eric cleared the path while Cassie acquired a Heal Berry. They walked to the exit of the town and talked to a monster.

"Um... excuse me... where is your master?" Julian asked the Lizardman. "We're here to give him the Tear Drop..."

"Master Belselk is just north of here..." the depressed monster replied.

"Hey, are you all right?" Cassie asked him while throwing a hand to his shoulder.

"Yes, I'm fine. Go deliver the Tear Drop," the now even more depressed monster said while shaking off her hand. "Actually, you know what? Just slay me. Put me out of my misery."

"I knew there was something wrong!" Cassie said as Eric put his right hand on the hilt of his sword. "Don't, Eric! Lizardman, go hide in the inn. We'll pick you up from there. Stay in the closet..."

The monster did as it was told. Then, the three warriors went north to give Belselk the Tear Drop.

"Are you here to fork over the Tear Drop?" Belselk asked them.

"It all depends... are you insuring the lives of the people?" Julian asked the green Night Crawler.

"I'm a busy guy. I wouldn't have time to destroy you humans... now would I? Give the Tear Drop here."

HANDED OVER TEAR DROP Insert Tear Drop pic here

"Ha! Perfect. Go through the gates when they open!" Belselk commanded to his monster cronies as he turned around to attack the castle.

Realizing the situation, Eric yelled, "HOLD ON, YOU HORRID CREATURE! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!"

"What is a puny little human gonna do to me?" Belselk asked Eric while turning around again. "Especially one with a bad haircut like the one you got?"

"Well, at least I have hair! I'm infuriated with you demons! First, you took Elmina, then you took Tara! You probably turned both into demons!" Eric said growling, placing his hand on the hilt of his Chrome Blade again.  
"I already met Lady Scarlett, who didn't even remember who I was!" Eric drew his sword. "I'll kill that Zed! But first, I'll start with you..."

"No, Eric! You're crazy to take him on by yourself!" Cassie cried.

And so, the battle begins. No DAs this time because this is a Quarter Knight battle .

"You humans are so delicate. We have to be so careful with you humans... You don't make very good toys..." Belselk said bitterly.

"Shut up!" Eric yelled. Then he sheathed and unsheathed his sword and PSYCHO CRACKed! He did about 600 infuriating HP damage to Belselk.

"Eric! Calm down! You're gonna kill yourself before you get a chance to kill him! Whatever..." Julian whipped out his staff again, the purplish black aura surrounding him, and yelled out "VALKYRIE!" The Spiritual Psychedelics did about 900 HP damage.

"I think you both should calm down. Who is this 'Elmina' anyway?" Cassie asked the blonde swordsman calmly.

"Don't ask him that, Cassie! You'll just infuriate him even more!" Hanpan chided at the blue haired girl.

"Sorry... ARM Lock On..." Cassie whispered. "HAND CANNON!" she shot her little revolver, the ARM bullet ripping through Belselk's tarnished clothes, doing him about 700 HP damage.

"GRAGGH! DISRUPTING FLAIL!" Belselk yelled as he flung his ball-and-chain at Julian's head. Julian evaded it easily.

"Damn! Have you no humanity?" Julian asked the Night Crawler.

"I'm no damn human!" Belselk replied bitterly.

"Aw, shut up!" Eric yelled, infuriated. "Accelerator..." About 30 technicolor lights sprang out from his body. This Force move made him go ahead in the attack and make him go faster than anybody in the battle.

Since Cassie wasn't very fast, she just looked at him in awe...

"CROSS CUT ROTUNDANT I'M TIRED AND IMA GO TO BED AFTER I CUT BELSELK SLAAAaaaSH!"

he did about 650 HP damage. "Go to Hades, you NIGHT CRAWLER DEMON THINGIE!"

"Eric... please..." Cassie pleaded.

"Listen to her, damn it! My father never listens to me and look where the Hades he ended up," Julian sid, harboring revenge. _Damn it, Father! Why'd you have to go and mouth off to that monster?_ "THIS IS FOR MY FATHER! VALKYRIE!"

His Spiritual Psychedelics did about 2,700 to Belselk, causing him to pause and become completely immobile (cuz that's what Wild ARMs does to the monster/demon you are fighting after you defeat it).

"Ugh... I feel like I'm being assaulted by a gnat. Come back when you're more of a challenge, kid."

"Damn it! Don't chicken out on us! Fight until the death, you coward!" Eric yelled at the ugly green... thing.

"I'm the coward? Apparently you forgot what Elmina told you. Plus, peace will overcome any sword, to put it in the words of King Adlehyde. Oop... sorry, kid..." then he disappeared.

"You don't tell me what Elmina told me... I'm gonna kill, Belselk, no matter what it takes..." Eric trailed off.

Somewhere, Elmina is saying, "Oh, my Guardians... he's repeating himself..."

"Eric, calm down," Hanpan told him. "Let's get back to Adlehyde Castle. The monsters seemed to have left with Belselk."

"Wait! What about the monster in the inn?"  
--------------------

30 seconds later...

"There you are! You listened to us... thank you. You should go to the Temple of Memory and live there. Either that, or Lolithia's Tomb. What do you think?" Cassie asked the now relieved Lizardman.

"Okay... sounds good. I think I'll go for the Temple of Memory..." the Lizardman replied.

"Great! Just stay out of human sight. I don't think you'll get slain there, but you never know..." Eric informed, trailing off.

"Eric! Anyways... have a good life, Lizardman. Hopefully, we'll see you again," Julian bidded adieu.

"Yeah, bye," the Lizardman said as he walked out of the inn.

------------------------

7 minutes later, Eric Julian and Cassie are back in the king's quarters.

"All right, Father! We snuck out... and now the demons have the Tear Drop," Julian informed the now scared looking king.

"It's done. Now the things that I had feared for so long are going to happen. Filgaia will be..." King Adlehyde trailed off.

"Don't talk, Father. Save your strength for the argument we will have later. Plus, don't worry about it! It's my duty as a prince to reclaim the Tear Drop anyway!"

"But prince...!" Minister Johan started.

"I have made my decision. I have trusty friends that will help me," Julian told MJ while turning to face Cassie. "You will help me... won't you?"

"Of course we will, Julian! It's times like this when you need help the most! And I'm sure Eric's with me as well."

"I'm kind of mad at him for lying, but like you said, if we don't support him, nobody will," Eric said.

"Thank you guys. I don't know what I'd do without you," Julian thanked them.

The Water Rune begins to glow.

"Hey! Don't forget about me! I've supported him, too!" Stoldark exclaimed.

"With smartass remarks and not so nice comments. But you do raise my sorcery and Magic Resistance... so I might as well not complain."

"Ha! That's right!"

"OHHHH! Argh..." the king groaned.

"Eric... may I please use your sword?" Julian asked the blonde swordsman.

"What do you want to use my sword for?" Eric asked the prince.

"Please, Eric. The sword!" Julian demanded.

"All right, all right. I'll let you use my sword," Eric agreed while handing Julian the Chrome Blade. Julian took it, and was almost brought down by the weight of it, which made Eric grin arrogantly and Cassie giggle a bit.

"Whoa. I'm not used to this kind of weight. Since I use my Magical Rod all the time... This sword must weigh about-"

"7 pounds. It's heavy, with the weight of its destiny. It's not for you, give it back! Julian, you can't support it on your own!"

"Then I will do something that I have intended to do for years," Julian informed while gathering all his hair from his shoulders down in his left hand, then he took the sword and sliced it through his hair. Everyone jumped in shock.

Julian let his now severed hair drop to the floor, and you could finally see his back. His hair now hung with split ends down to his shoulders. At least, he looked a little bit less feminine. (smiles widely)

Julian walked back to Eric and gave him back the Chrome Blade. "Your sword has severed my past. I thank you for this."

"Be strong, Julian. Reclaim the Tear Drop. Protect what is yours. There has been soemthing that I've been wanting to tell you for 10 years, Julian, but I never got chance to. I-" then King Adlehyde stopped short. His head tilted to the side. His eyes closed. He stopped breathing.

The knight standing by his bed checked his pulse. He felt... nothing. He turned back to the prince and shook his head. Cassie and Eric ran to his bed. Julian stood there, unable to move.

"There's no use sitting here, feeling sad. We must honor the lives of the men who fought so hard and our beloved king..." Minister Johan said, walking out of the room, holding back tears.

-----------------

3 hours later... the eastern wing of Adlehyde Castle...

_They gather here today... three seperate agendas, one common goal. The stage is set for the fall of Filgaia. The story starts here..._

The music: people humming a sad tune. I'd also like to download this midi... but...

We move southwest to about 20-30 knights either holding a flag or a spear. Julian stands in all black, apparently waiting for the king's coffin to come out of the castle. When it finally does, the 6 people holding it sets it down, backs away, and lets 6 knights go beside the coffin, salute it, then pick it up. With Julian leading, they all walk out of Adlehyde Castle.

In Adlehyde... when the kings's coffin gets past a certain point, more coffins of townspeople killed during the attack follow it. All the survivors that Eric, Julian and Cassie rescued and some more civilians who had hid during the invasion were mourning. Old ladies were crying. Cassie and Eric were standing under a tree, hugging and crying. When they saw Julian pass, he looked at them with tears in his eyes. He wanted to go over there and hug them both, but he had something to do. When the king's coffin passed the item shop, 4 kids ran past, crying. A 10 year old girl was following them, holding a red ball. Just north of the item shop, she dropped the ball and it rolled toward Cassie. It stopped at her feet. She pick it up and held it out toward the girl. The girl took it.

"Thank you," the girl thanked her.

Cassie nodded.

"What's gonna happen now?" Eric asked her.

"I don't know. We're going to go after the Tear Drop, and it's probably going to lead us all over Filgaia...?" Cassie replied.

"Heh... yay... this is gonna be really fun!" Eric exclaimed sarcastically.

"How can you be sarcastic at a time like this?" Cassie laughed.

"That's a good question. How can you be laughing at a time like this?"

"Seriously, Eric, you gotta stop being so sarcastic," Cassie laughed again.

"My lady, Cassandra, you haven't seen anything yet," Eric informed while taking her in his arms.

_That's what my grandfather used to tease me by. Calling me 'My lady, Cassandra'... My grandfather... Zepet..._

"What's wrong, Cassie? You're frowning..." Eric asked her.

"Nothing's wrong, Eric. I was just thinking of something..." Cassie told him.

"Okay, I'm just worried about you..."

"Thank you, Eric. I'm glad to be travelling with two men who care about me."

"You're welcome. Julian worries about you a lot. That's why he drops down to his knees everytime you get those horrible cramps."

"He really likes me, huh? Well, I'd better show him I care for him back," Cassie informed.

"Yeah..." Eric said. He gazed into her eyes. Their faces were moving closer. Their lips were an inch apart. Then Eric had to ruin it all by realizing what he was doing! "I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was doing..."

"It's all right, Eric... I was a bit out of it also..."

They still had their hands on each other's hips. Their faces moved closer, and this time, they kissed. Just a modest kiss. Nothing bold. Nothing passionate. They stood there for a long time. Then Eric had to ruin it all AGAIN by pulling himself back into reality.

"Did we- did I just kiss you? I'm sorry, Cassie, it's never gonna happen again... Never..." _But you want it to happen, don't you? Yes you do. She's 15, you loser! Even tho'... I want her... I want her so bad... She's just so beautiful..._

Cassie hugged him. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have let that happen, either..."

The king's coffin was in front of the entrance to the chapel. 3 nuns were blocking the doorway. Each went into it, the coffins following them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dani: And so ends another chapter! Yep, all that was just the beginning! Hee hee...

Rudy: You just have to do that, don't you?

Dani: Yes, I do, Rudy. By the way... that scene with King Adlehyde dying. I kind of based it off of Julian Marquet's father dying in "Petals on the Wind". Ee.

Jack: Okay, I'm gonna remain speechless. You thought of this before you started reading yaoi, right?

Dani: Yes, I did. But now I think yaoi is wrong because of my... um... the guy who inspired me to name Jack's character 'Eric'.

Cecilia: Eheh. Right. That was soooo serious.

Dani: Just hush up, Cecilia. ONTO CHAPTER 6! YIPPEE!


	6. The Starting of the Journey, Longlong!

Wild ARMs: Rehabitated and Rehabilitated

by Black Fenril

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Disclaimer: MediaVision owns Wild ARMs. I happen to own Tara Yurik and a shirt that I made myself that has Zed on it. Oh and a copy of the first game. ROCK ON!!!

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Chapter 6: The Very Interesting Journey Through Mountain Pass-Baskar Village

----------------------

_ONE WEEK FROM THE DATE OF THE ATTACK..._

We see Cassie and Eric walking through Adlehyde Castle, not holding hands this time. Eric glances around, his hands in his pockets (as usual), and sees no signs of life.

"Er... where are all the knights?" the blonde swordsman asked his blue haired companion.

"Well... it is morning. There is a possibility that they could be eating breakfast," Cassie replied sarcastically.

A knight suddenly came strolling past them, ignoring them. Eric stops him by thrusting out his arm.

"Ouch! What?" the knight asked.

"Where's the prince?" Eric asked him.

"Er... in his room."

Eric took hold of Cassie's hand and ran her toward Julian's room. When they got there, 30 seconds later, Julian was still asleep. Cassie ran to his bed, and she kneeled down.

"Mmm... Cassie... you look so nice in that Pret- A - Porte..." Julian muttered in his sleep.

"Hey Julian..." Cassie greeted with a smirk on her face before shaking him awake. "Wake u-u-up..."

Julian's eyes opened. "Now that is a nice alarm clock... Good morning, Cassie. Is it July 15th yet?"

"Yes!" she replied brightly. "It's time to venture out into the unknown and reclaim the Tear Drop!"

"Oh! Okay. That's good..." Julian said this next bit more quietly. "Now... er... are we alone?"

"Er, no. Eric's standing in the doorway," was her reply.

"Dang it. Oh, well. I need to get ready anyways, why don't you and Eric go eat breakfast now cuz I need a shower anyways," he said before throwing his covers off of himself and getting off the bed. He hugged Cassie before going into the bathroom.

Cassie walked back to the doorway, smiling brightly at him while saying, "I suppose we're supposed to go to breakfast now."

Eric nodded, then took her hand to lead her to the dining room (I don't know where it's located).

Cassie blushed a bit, turning a pale crimson, smiling a little brighter as they made their way into the dining room. She smelled the sweet aroma of homemade buttermilk biscuits and a savory blend of sausage gravy.

"Looks like it's biscuits and gravy for breakfast this morning," Mr. Pointsouttheobviousalot pointed out. XD

"Er, not to offend you, but that was a little obvious, not that, of course, I didn't know already. But... of course... I'll just stop rambling because I believe I am right now."

Eric smiled at her a bit, then took a look around the kitchen. It was just as elegant as any other chamber in Adlehyde Castle, if not even more so. The wallpaper consisted of blue and pink hearts and bouquets of lilacs bound by a sky blue ribbon. In other words, I don't think a male picked that out. The walls were white, adorned with said wallpaper. The dinner table was polished, dark brown oak, polished so well, you could see your reflection in it. The chairs were Victorian, with dark crimson cushions, to blend with the dark brown the chairs were. Also on the walls were paintings illustrated by famous painters such as Van Gogh, Georgia O'Keefe and Leonardo Da Vinci. There was also a sculpture of King Adlehyde, made out of... soap? No, that's not right. Erm, porcelain. There we go. The same material that's used to make toilets. Yep. But, anyway, yeah, it was a looker, and you would probably be willing to pay money to see the scenery, but our friends at Adlehyde Castle are much too generous. (Rolling eyes icon inserted here)

"Wow..." the Rudy alternate whispered, gaping at the beauty that's known as the royal dining room.

"Yeah... it sure is pretty..." Eric uttered out after her remark.

A cook came up to them, and said, "Hey, I hear there's an unopened chest in the left entrance out of the kitchen. The item's supposed to nullify poison or something like that."

Eric smiled at him, then nodded to his companion. "Okay. Let's go, Cassie... we need that if we're gonna go out into the unknown and deal with powers beyond human control..."

She followed her dirty flaxen-headed companion to that particular room, with the chest, in the entrance to the far left in the kitchen.

They looked at the chest. It was like every other chest they had encountered. But this one was radiating an aura that they had never seen before. The aura of the Moon Stone.

Eric opened it with ease, taking the item out of its velvet place in the chest. It was a silver hue, shining in the flames of the torches nearby. It was an orb shape, too, like a glittery pearl that just came out of an oyster's mouth... (?)

"Now, THAT'S pretty..." the blue haired gunslinger trailed off before Hanpan, the cute little blue Wind Mouse, came out of Eric's pocket.

Noticing this, Eric greeted him. "Why, hello, mousy."

Hanpan had just came out of slumber, so his eyes were half - open. He shook his head, vigorously to try to shake it off. "Heeeeey, Eriiiic. What's uuuuup...?"

As Cassie choked back laughter, Eric let out a small chuckle. "Oh, just my ego, since today's the day we set out for a place I don't really know yet, since Minister Johan's gonna tell us later. But, anyway, yeah, I'm even more smug, because we found this beauty..." Eric explained while tossing the Moon Stone in the air just above his head, then catching it again.

Slapping himself again to attempt to get out of his half-awake stage, he shook his head again. "What is it?" he inquired, looking at the orb-shaped thingamajigger.

"It is the Moon Stone, an item that might be a bit cheap looking, but it's worth it, for it nullifies the status error of Poison," Eric elaborated with an arrogant grin on his face.

Hanpan ran his little mouse fingers along its curved edges. "Hm. You better put it to good use, then."

Eric smiled, then was tempted to knock the little blue Wind Mouse off his shoulder. "Shut it, mousy."

Clapping her hands together, our Rudy alternate suggested, "Well, I'm hungry! Do you think we should go back to the dining room?"

Turning his gaze to the female gunslinger, Eric nodded. "Yeah. That scent of the biscuits and gravy is getting to me."

Smirking as they were walking, the duo (plus Hanpan), they thought about the future, wondering where this was exactly going to take them. When they arrived at the dining room, they sat themselves down and were served the biscuits and gravy.

"My Guardians, this smells delicious..." our Rudy alternate exclaimed.

"Indeed it does..." Eric accomodated, picking up his... spork. XD

Looking at the large sum of the breakfast platter, Cassie said, "I'm not sure if I could eat all this... Eric, would you eat what I can't finish off?"

Smiling because of his large appetite, he acquiesced her request, cutting some of the first biscuit with the fork end. "Hey, mousy!" He set Hanpan down on the table from his shoulder. "Breakfast has been served..."

After being set down, Hanpan smelled of it. "Wow!" he remarked, taking some of the biscuit that Eric cut with his fork. "I haven't smelled anything this good since-"

Interrupting Hanpan, Eric warned him, "Watch it, mousy..."

Hanpan grumbled out the second piece of his sentence, then took another article of the biscuit and munched on it.

5 minutes later, Julian came into the kitchen. He sat between the two (plus Hanpan) and was served. After he said 'hi', he took a bite of it, and said, "Mmm! This is delicious! My compliments to the chef!" sweetly.

After swallowing a bit, Cassie said, "Hey, Julian. You look fantastic. After your barber straightened it out so you didn't have split ends, of course."

After sweatdropping, Julian replied, "Yeah. Much more manageable, too." He smiled widely, remembering the script. (sweatdrop symbol inserted here)

And yes, Cecilia's hanging out here, in the lobby, reviewing this, and she's proud. Prouder than a parent whose kid just got all A's in all of his/her classes. And we're sort of laughing our asses off, too.

"Anyways, aren't you excited? We're going to reclaim the Tear Drop and destroy the demons! This is gonna be freakin' awesome!"

"I know, but there are probably going to be a lot of things in our way. I mean, this isn't gonna be a walk in the park, if you catch my drift, here," Cassie reminded her two male companions (and Hanpan), looking down a bit at her biscuits and gravy.

"Aw, come off it, Cassie. It's gonna be fun nonetheless. Just think of all the new people we get to meet, all the tension-y moments that'll be going on, all the conundrums..." Hanpan reminded her, trailing off.

"Oh... all right," she said, lifting her head up and smiling at them brightly, her crimson eyes shining.

Minister Johan walked in the kitchen, then sat himself down. He was wearing his usual robes, his slightly balding head... balding more. He was also wearing sandals. Ah, yes, and a medallion that showed he was a minister with Solus Emsu's symbol on it.

His eyes immediately went to Julian, who looked away immediately, back to his breakfast. Minister Johan got the picture and looked to the other two. "It's good to see you up this early in the morning. I wanted to talk to the three of you."

"HEY!" Hanpan chided at the minister, a bit hurt for his lack of observation.

"Oop, sorry, the four of you..." Minister Johan corrected himself, scratching the back of his head, wondering how the blue Wind Mouse could speak.

"Thaaaaaaat's better!" Hanpan said, striking a pose, one that portrayed arrogance and/or conceitedness.

_Stooge..._ Minister Johan thought. Then he said, "Anyways, you're next destination will be the Guardian Shrine, north of Milama Village. You'll have to go through the Mountain Pass to get there, tho'."

"The Mountain Pass? You mean the place that had those two rude knights? Seriously, those spears were sharp. And I have a bruise from the other one... but I'm not gonna show it to you for the sake of your minds," Cassie said, sweatdropping a bit, then going back to her biscuits and gravy.

"Sure..." Eric said, also taking a bite of his breakfast.

"Um, anyways, have the Guardians spoken to you, yet, Julian?" Minister Johan inquired to the brunette headed prince, who was crouched rather low to his food.

Julian raised his head to give Minister Johan eye contact, then replied, "Uh, yeah. Stoldark has. Here's his rune..." Julian dug in his coat pocket for a rune with a design that portrayed a tidal wave. Remembering his lines again, he said, "I'm proud to be the Innocent One and the Shaman Child of the Guardians."

"So they have!" Minister Johan exclaimed. "Excellent! There's definitely a way of knowing now!" Remembering the ten chests that magically appeared in the Adlehyde Council Room, he said, "Also, there are ten unopened chests in the Adlehyde Council Room. Go acquire what's in them, then head to Milama Village."

They head to the Council Room and acquire a plethera of items that would be helpful to them throughout the quest to the Tear Drop, including a bracelet called the 'Missanga', which raises whoever's wearing it luck by one level. Such as if you had 'Bad' luck, it would be raised to 'Normal' luck and so on.

As they were exiting the Castle to see the still-in-shambles Adlehyde, Julian piped up a question to our two skilled Dream Chasers. "Now, this Mountain Pass..."

"It's on the peninsula south of the Temple of Memory..." Eric trailed off sadly, the tragedy of someone dear lost radiating off of him.

"Hey, Eric... what's wrong?" Cassie asked him, rather intent on getting an answer.

"Nothing, nothing..." Eric lied, trying to get off the subject. The emotions going through his head clouded his judgement.

"Something must be eating at you..." Cassie accused, not dropping the subject.

This didn't exactly bring pleasure to our blonde swordsman. It made him furious. "Just never mind! I don't like to talk about it! Now, can we please find another subject, or I'm gonna have to kill something here, soon."

Immediately aware that something was wrong here, but she didn't want to be crabbed at anymore, she dropped the subject. She looked around at the once-bountiful city of Adlehyde. Now it was... ugly. And figuratively speaking, too.

Here's the description of Adlehyde. The cobblestones were all burned, giving the grim look an even-more-so heinous look. The rooftops had holes in them, and shingles were falling off the roofs. Since it had rained the night prior to this day, the insides of the houses were wet, damp and not very livable. That's why some of the townspeople favored in staying outside for the time being. The siding of the houses were burnt, some of the houses even burnt down from last week's events. Luckily, the grief of the people from said events was gone, and they were surprisingly cheerful, having faith in the future. Some of the people of Adlehyde had also formed the Adlehyde Restoration Committee, a clan determined to fix the city and make it even bigger maybe. The attack was a major wake-up call for most of the city, and Adlehyde Castle had been so kind to even step up the security forces and hire more knights. The East Plaza was also off-limits to passersby and other Dream Chasers,because it was deemed unsafe by Mayor Cuthbert, who was still rather broken up about the whole thing.

The trio (plus Hanpan) headed out of the singed Adlehyde gates after getting supplies they needed to cure various status errors and healing potions/berries/et cetera. After they exited the town, they headed northwest to the Mountain Pass.

Since this is dragged out, and since I'm just plain lazy, I'll skip ahead to where the krazy krisps winds are in between the two in-the-air... things. I think you know where I mean when I say Eric gets his second Fast Draw here.

The winds were blowing hard. Cassie all of a sudden wished her red vest had long sleeves. Eric wished he had another trench coat on and Julian was just content cuz his jacket was a Windbreaker. (XD)

But of course, since his face was uncovered, he shivered once, then uttered out, "Man, these damned winds..." He pulled the collar of his jacket over his chin and mouth.

Eric went 5 feet from where the other two were standing and sat down, and began to think. Deviously. When he thinks, something usually is blown up or sliced in half by the broadsword he had right now.

"..." Hanpan hesitated to say something. "What-"

"The power of the this wind... if only I could harness its power..." Eric trailed off, looking at the sword sheathed at his side with yearning.

Hanpan sighed harshly. "Why don't you try it, then?"

While Hanpan said that last bit, Eric got inspired. A beige swirl went around his sword's blade once he unsheathed it, and wind energy pulsated through his body.

FAST DRAW HINT acquired. (Sword icon inserted here)

In the battle following, against a Harpy, Eric mastered the hint. We'll save the use of the attack for another battle, mm'kay? By the way, he named it 'Sonic Buster', for a reason I don't know why cuz I just don't. But anyways...

"Wow..." Julian beamed. "That's a cool attack. It can hit more than one enemy at a time, eh?"

Eric nodded with a smile on his 27-year-old face. "Yeah... but it's also weaker than Psycho Crack. And Psycho Crack was weak..."

"Aw, come off it, Eric. It's still a useful attack, now stop being so modest," Julian said while slapping him on the shoulder.

"Well, shall we go?" Eric asked his two teenage companions. He sheathed his broadsword in its scabbard and stood up with excellent posture.

Ah, yes, and by the way, the music that's playing right now is "Time To Dance" by Panic! At the Disco. I thank you.

"We shall," Julian replied, with a big smile on his face.

Cassie nodded and ran toward the second section of the cave. It was darker than Hades in there, and our quartet couldn't see a thing.

"Damn... it's dark in here..." Julian trailed off before waving a hand in front of his own face. It was so dark, he couldn't even see it.

"I wish I had something to light these lanterns we keep seeing..." Eric longingly said, tired of the darkness partially because his eyes weren't used to it yet. The sections of the outside part of the Mountain Pass were in broad daylight, and being engulfed in darkness didn't exactly please him; or his eyes.

Having keen eyesight gave our blue-haired gunslinger the ability to see in the dark. Her eyes pinpointed a silver glint in the darkness. "Hey, what's that?" she asked while pointing to the right.

Having the same ability as our Rudy alternate, Hanpan looked over to where she was pointing to see the silver glint. "It's... a lighter..."

Eric and Julian's submaxillas dropped. Eric was the one to speak first after closing his mouth and stopping to think for a second. "Hm. That's gotta be like a pun or something..." He strolled over to the lighter, then picked it up. Then he ignited it and waltzed over to a random lantern and lighted it. The place was lit up... instantaneously. (XD) There's the return of that big word! We missed ya, buddy.

"Wow... now that's a useful tool. Bet we'll only have to use it for 3 or 4 different things."

"Quit being that way, mousy! Julian..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

10 minutes later, in the last chamber of the Mountain Pass...

The gang were in front of a wall that looked like it was crumbling down. And the walls came a-crumbling down. XD I love that song. But anyways...

"You know, this wall looks pretty damn suspicious..." Julian accused of it. And it did.

"Do you think it could be blown up?" Eric inquired to the other... three.

Our... Rudy alternate dug in her knapsack for a bomb. She set it down by the crumbling wall and ignited it. The path was cleared, and the rock was blown out toward them, which killed the quartet. Nah, that's stupid. If they were killed, this fanfiction would be much shorter! Stupid!

The quartet walked through the new passageway. There was a chest. No different from the other ones that the four had encountered before.

Julian kneeled down and opened the treasure chest with ease. He took the old, crumpled beige piece of parchment out of its velvet case.

MAGIC MAP acquired. (Magic Map icon inserted here)

What Julian saw on the parchment was a map of Filgaia and all three of their positions on Filgaia, in the Mountain Pass. Eric was a beige dot, Cassie was a blue dot, and Julian was a brown dot. If you hadn't already guessed, it goes by the hue of their hair. XD

"Cool... a map of Filgaia. It even shows our positions on Filgaia by the color of our hair! That's freakin' schweet..."

They exit the room. It's near the end. Recall I said the last chamber of the Mountain Pass? You don't? Well, I said it, so nyah. The quartet talk to the two people that are supposed to be guarding the Mountain Pass, except one was sleeping with Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews opened to page 337 over his face. His spear was on the ground, signaling that he had probably dropped it a while ago, for the hand that was supposedly holding it was lowered to the ground.

The one that wasn't in the luxury of slumber greeted them. "Hello. Looks like somebody made it through the Mountain Pass in one piece. I'm Bryan. Sleeping beauty over there is Frank."

After chuckling a bit, Julian introduced them to the awake guard. "I'm Julian. The actual beauty over there is Cassie." If Bryan had looked at her, he would have seen her cheeks stained with crimson. "And the rogue beside her is Eric. You don't really see people going through here very often, do you?"

"Not really. I swear you must be the first three people I've seen in a month successfully come through here, with the monsters. You've even found the Magic Map rumored to be hidden here by thieves a few decades ago," Bryan beamed while pointing out the Magic Map in Eric's grasp.

"Ah, it was nothing. That wall looked pretty obvious," Cassie explained modestly, her cheeks turning an even deeper red.

"True that," Julian agreed.

"Wait. Why are you coming through the Mountain Pass in the first place?" Bryan asked, rather intent on getting an answer for he was quite curious.

"Uh, no real reason..." Julian said, not really wanting to get on that subject.

"It's really none of your business anyway..." Eric told him, crossing his arms across his abs, tapping his foot impatiently.

"But-" Bryan stammered incoherently.

"No damned buts!" Julian fumed, disgusted with the word, 'but'. He then sighed. "Can we go now?"

"Really, we've got places to go, people to meet," Cassie urged.

_Guardians, for that matter..._ Julian thought.

"Oh, of course," Bryan said reluctantly. "But-"

"Oh, SHUT UP!" Julian screamed.

They ran out of there after that outburst. They did not talk until they reached Milama Village, which took a couple hours.

After they entered the gates, they realized that Milama Village was clearly dominant with water. It was one of the few villages left on Filgaia that actually had water in abundancy. My outtake on this factor is that they must have irrigated the land a lot, and well, too. Oh, yeah, and Milama Village's theme music rawked, too. That typo was done on purpose for my amusment and my amusement only. (XD)

"Do you suppose..." Cassie started. "That the huge structure to the north of here is the Guardian Shrine?"

"I would guess," Julian... uh... guessed. XD

A rather pudgy woman came up to the three of them. She was wearing a rather revealing green Chiffon dress and 4 inched high heels. In one of her arms was a light brown chihuahua, with a hot-pink leather sweater on. It's collar was adorned with diamonds, about 1 karat apiece. In her other hand, she held a Louis Vuitton tote bag also adorned with diamonds and various other gems. She also had a mole on her mustache with little dark brown hairs coming out of it. Her hair was black and it was tied up in a French twist. Then she spoke in a deep Scandinavian accent, "Did you say you were going to the 'Guardian Shrine'?"

"Yes, in fact, we are," Julian confirmed, turning around to look at the woman. He gaped at her... ugliness for a couple second, noting that she had several chins and those chins hid her neck.

She replied, with a smug smirk played across her face, "Well, the pub owner's father was a Guardian Priest. You should go talk to him."

Feeling like a bit of a smartass at the moment (Cecilia: But, of course, what guy isn't in this fanfiction? XD), Julian commanded something sarcastically, "Tell me something. If this guy's father was a priest, given that priests are supposed to live lives of celibacy, then how could he have a son?"

A bit irked at Julian's dumb question, Eric chided at him, "Julian! Stop being a smartass!" He then turned back to the pudgy woman and bowed graciously. "Thank you. We shall go talk to him."

The woman dropped the dog and let it scamper away furiously. She was gaping at Julian. "Wait... Julian...? You're the prince of Adlehyde, aren't you?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Julian sneered at his late father, overwrought. "I don't like to talk about it."

"That's too bad..." the woman said, a warm smile coming to her face. "I'm Cin-"

The quartet (including Hanpan who was hanging on for his little Wind Mouse life on Eric's shoulder) ran off. This... woman... even tho', she looked more like a man than a woman despite the elegant dress she was wearing... was getting the best of them, and when that happens, they get irked to the 5th degree, and that's bad. Very bad.

Cassie spotted a Weaponry shop to the north of them, she stopped completely to stare at it. Since she was ahead of her two male companions, they stopped along with her, wondering why she had stopped. "Oh, hey. A Weaponry shop! Let's get some new weaponry!"

They go into the Weaponry store and buy a Bastard sword katana for Cassie, a Might Blade broadsword for Eric and a Dream Wand... staff for Julian. They also sold all their old weaponry to the shopkeeper for 3/4 of the original price.

Eric looked at his new broadsword. He looked at the hilt, which was adorned with rubies and such to go along with the gold that the rest of it was. He fingered a random ruby and then went along to the hilt. He traced his fingers along the wide blade, feeling the silver. This was no ordinary blade, this was... an.. extraordinary blade. XD

"Wow... this sword... is schweet..." Eric trailed off before fingering it more, fascinated.

Really wanting to get this over with now, Julian asked his two unusual companions f34ring their blades, "Well, shall we go to the pub?"

Here was Cassie's riposte, "Totally, yeah."

They walked to the pub. After they entered it, they observed that it was too full of people. The capacity was overloaded. And it was loud, too. Glasses breaking were sounding from everywhere, and slurring from the drunkenness was also parts of the noise, too. In other words, the place was way too damned busy.

Cassie started to jump up and down, waving her hands in the air to try and get the pub owner's attention. "Hey! Mr. Pub Owner, sir!"

I think she got it, too, because she heard, "The name's Bob! And by the way, could you talk to me once this crowd's thinned out?" Bob asked them.

Ignoring his request, Julian yelled back, "We came to ask about the Guardians and their shrine just north of here!" Oh, yeah, and he also got poked in the face by a drunk woman.

"The Guardians..." Bob hesitated for a second before yelling back, "I didn't think anybody knew about them anymore!"

A bit irked because this 'Bob' thought he didn't know that he knew about the Guardians. He was the freakin' Innocent One, for Guardians' sake! "Well, you thought wrong!"

"I'm not running a temple here! Why don't you have a bite to eat while the customers thin out?" Bob suggested.

"All right," Julian started, hungry for his favorite meal. "Five hamburgers, please!"

"Yees! Who's gonna eat all that?" Bob was shocked to hear the order, but started making the hamburgers nonetheless.

In about 10 minutes, Eric was laughing his ass off at a cruel remark he had just made to Julian.

"I can't believe you had seconds! Maybe you really are the Glutton Man, the Great Magician of-" but Eric was interrupted.

Julian got out his Dream Wand and pointed it at Eric. "You shut up, or I'm gonna sic my Valkyrie spell on you!" And I don't think he was kidding, because the sincerity in his voice proved it. Maybe he's sensitive on that subject?

Cassie stood up and held out both of her arms and pushed as hard as she could against both of their chests, prying them apart. She at least got them apart so that their noses weren't touching anymore. "Children, quit fighting... seriously, you guys, you're acting like children. Note that I'm the youngest one here, so I'm the one that should be acting like a child."

Julian sat back down, put away his Crest Sorcery wand and folded his arms across his chest. "I only like to eat so much because I get really hungry after a battle. Magic casting requires a lot of energy, so nyah!"

Eric began stuttering like an idiot, much like Dr. Nitrous Brio from Crash Bandicoot.

After the last person had left, Bob stopped pacing back and forth behind the counter, and told them, more quietly, now, "Okay! I'm ready to talk!"

The quartet noted that everybody that had been clamoring and/or stepping on/slurring drunkenly at/slapping/poking Julian was gone. They walked with ease to the bar stools, noting that the red velvet (which went with the dark brown the rest of they were) was quite comfortable.

"Now... the Guardian Shrine... nobody has been in it for over twenty years. You see, there was a room in there that only priests were permitted to see..." he explained while giving Eric a pen and a piece of paper.

Eric looked down at the office supplies for a second, then looked back at Bob with a look of confusion on his face.

Observing Eric's look of confusion, Bob replied quickly, "Write this down: Light the fire at two, then at ten. If you light the fire at six, you will get an open door at twelve."

"At twelve..." Eric said absentmindedly while writing down that last bit.

"Also, take this..." he told Cassie while giving her a medal- let me rephrase that- terribly chipped, but surprisinly shiny medal that had the symbol of Solus Emsu on it. "You'll need it. It's like a key or something."

HOLY METAL acquired (Holy Medal icon inserted here)

Julian gaped at the object that Bob had just handed our Rudy alternate. "Shiiiiinyyyyy..." he trailed off before reaching out to take it from her and f34r it. But, before he could get close enough to snatch it away from her, the blue-haired gunslinger slapped his hand to fend him off. Julian withdrew his hand... instantaneously.

Really wanting to get on with this, Eric said, "Much gratitude, sir."

Bob nodded to him and then continued to clean the rather dirty countertop.

Julian, Cassie and Eric leave the pub, arrogant grins on each one of their faces, because they had just gotten this new information.

Noting that there was a Magic Guild to the north of them after walking west a bit after going south a bit, Cassie stopped again. "You don't suppose we should stop by that Magic Guild and bind a few new spells to Julian's three new Crest Graphs, do ya?" the Rudy alternate asked Eric. Julian's face lit up with happiness, feeling as though the gunslinger had just read his mind.

Observing Julian's look, Eric replied, "Well, judging by his expression, maybe we should."

Cassie nodded her head and began to walk to the Magic Guild, her two male companions (and three, if you count Hanpan sleeping in Eric's pocket) following close behind her. _There probably isn't a Magic Guild in Baskar Village anyway..._ Cassie thought.

With Julian leading the pack, he asked the binder to bind Freeze, Revive and Shield to his three Crest Graphs. After the cool sounds effects were over with, the three set off for the Guardian Shrine.

---------------------------

"Hmm... hand me that paper," Eric commanded to Julian (who had taken the paper from Eric to prevent losing it). He handed it to Eric. "Thank you."

Eric went along with his lighter out and opened and lit. He lighted the 2nd Fire Container Thingamajig from the top, the 10th, glanced down at the paper again, the 6th FCT, then the top one. The rest of the fire container thingamabobbers lit themselves.

"Well, that's a cool little effect..." Julian added brightly.

"Oh, just-" Eric interrupted himself and shot Julian a look that said, 'shut the Hades up'.

Then Cassie shot Eric a look of desperate deconfinement (I wonder what that means. I'll look it up.) ((2 minutes later... after 2 minutes of searching for the Absolute Power (((the Absolute Power being a dictionary))) Dani could not find it in the mess she calls her lair. She screams "DAMN IT!" and goes back to writing her fanfiction.))

They go back upstairs. Earlier, Eric had been striking the door with his sword (because that's his way of letting off steam, as I have mentioned before) And, of course, before that, he had tried to kick it. Then he figured that the Holy Medal was the 'key' that Bob had been talking about. When he tried to open the door with that, it didn't work, which pissed him off even more. So he stormed off down the stairs to the right, then saw all these lantern-type thingers and got an evil idea. Well, not an evil idea, figuratively speaking, but it was evil nonetheless.

Eric tried the Holy Medal again and -EGAD!!- it worked! The door opened after a bunch of rumbling movements and sounds, and the path to the future was lightened? That's not right. Well, sort of, but... the path to the next floor was cleared! There we go!

Some time later, Julian, Eric and Cassie were in front of a huge mirror. Eric checked his reflection and then said, "Lookin' good!" After that CNN-worthy event, a blue light is emitted from the Water Rune in Julian's blue jacket pocket. It goes through the mirror, which caused it to become out-of-focus for a couple seconds.

Hearing Stoldark's voice in his mind, Julian uttered, "I understand, Stoldark..." He then raised his voice to tell the other two, "We must go though there."

Eric looked at the mirror again, then asked sarcastically, "Well, what do you plan to do next, Prince Julian?"

Julian hesitated for a moment. Then he walked through the mirror. It became distorted once again before going normal again.

Cassie and Eric turned to each other in a fury, the emotion of worry spilled across their faces.

Cassie, of course, was the first to speak. "What! Damn it! Follow him!"

They go through the mirror, too, with ease, even tho', they had their eyes closed while running through it.

And then the two (three if you count Hanpan, but he was with Eric anyway) were separated.

And since I felt like it, Eric's scenario will come first!

Eric goes through his scenario with a look of determination and maybe even a hint of... (gasp!) courage on his face. At the end, or at least, the last room of the scenario, he finds a saber stuck in the ground, like the sword from the legend of King Arthur.

"Hhh... this is the Absolute Power! This is the sword I've been searching for for so long!"

He takes a hold of the hilt, and with two gentle tugs, he pulls it from the ground. After 5 seconds of looking at it with proud eyes, the sword flies from his hand and disappears into the unknown.

"! Wha- what happened?" Eric asked to no one in particular.

The room suddenly turns to a void of darkness, the hue pitch black. The weird thing was when he waved his hand in front of his own face, he could see it perfectly. He turns his head furiously from side to side. "Where am I? Gggh... vast nothingness... it's like a dream." He hesitates for a second, feeling another presence in the room. "Is someone here? Come out, whoever you are!"

A rather familiar- well, two rather familiar women, one with red hair the other with pink appear. Eric noticed them all-too-well, and was taken aback at the sight of them.

"No way... it can't be!"

"You're the one who ran," the crimson haired one told him, a sneer on her face. "Coward! You seek power, but you refuse to use it!"

A bit flustered, and still dumbfounded from these events, Eric said, shaking, "I've never ran from anything before. I've accepted every challenge I've faced..."

"You ran from your friends and your responsibilities," the pink-haired knight spat at him. "But most of all, you ran from yourself. Don't you get it? A coward can destroy, but true power is the power of protection."

"I know that. I really do. That is why I am seeking it," Eric stuttered out, still confused as Hades and wondering how the heck this is possible! "Please be patient..."

With that, Eric sank down to his knees, defeated. He was unable to move from shock. "Elmina... Tara..."

They both disappeared. Eric, when the room was lit up again by random torches, noticed he was on a secluded patch of floor. He was unable to get off.

------------------------------

Cassie Roughnight stood in front of a mirror. She was gaping at an image that was just ahead of her. It was Tony, the little kid from Surf Village.

Turning around, Tony screeched, "The monsters are coming!"

Cassie drew her katana, stepped in front of Tony and slayed the monster that had just appeared out of the mirror with one powerful swipe. When she looked back at Tony, he stepped away from her a couple steps.

""You're just as scary as the monsters..." Tony said softly, fright emanating from his voice.

"I-"

A ghost of Mayor Pifer appeared.

"You caused that earthquake... You delivered that damage to the village of Surf!" he accused, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the blue-haired gunslinger.

His wife, Julia, appeared next to him. Her expression was dominated by anger, and her aura was just screaming the color of red.

"A lady isn't meant for such powers! It should be forbidden!"

The horse owner appeared on the left side of Cassie.

"She isn't a lady. ARMs have been brought up from the same soil. They could have originally belonged to demons!"

Tony's father appeared behind Cassie.

"You're right, Phil. She's not a lady. Just look at yourself! You're a monster!"

Cassie waltzed up to the mirror. She didn't see her own reflection, but that of the monster that had attacked Tony. She stepped back from the reversifyin' glass with a look of shock and disdain on her face.

The ghosts, all excepting Tony, disappeared.

"You're a monster," he said, scowling at her, his eyes narrowed, and his theme music just screaming hate. "You don't belong on Filgaia. Nobody wants to even look at you."

Then, the ghost of Tony disappeared, leaving Cassie on her knees, crying her heart out because of... an illusion.

After she was done crying, she noticed she was on the same secluded piece of floor Eric was on. After Eric had realized she was there, he knelt down to the floor to be level with her and hugged the stuffing out of her, trying to give her the notion that everything was all right. He wiped the tears from her eyes, gave her a reassuring smile, then began to talk about happier things like... movies and flowers.

--------------------------------

Finally, this leads me to Julian's scenario.

Julian walked and walked until he saw himself in the Adlehyde Throne Room. Eheh... not THAT kind of throne room. Get your minds out of the gutter, people. Guh.

"What the-" Julian got out before a ghost of Minister Johan appeared.

"The Prince is coming to save Filgaia. May the Guardians be with him..."

Julian was going to say 'Thank you', but was interrupted by a random knight appearing.

"The prince is responsible for being a prince... remember that."

"I know, I know, but-"

He was cut off once again by another knight appearing.

"Have you noticed that no one calls you by your name?" the knight said, finally getting that dramatic thing out, being smug.

Rather shocked, Julian opened his mouth to say a smartass remark back but was cut off by the king appearing in his throne.

"Father... not you too..."

"What's the surprise? You knew no one loved you. By the way, the prince is a symbol, Julian is not. Do you understand?"

Rage was building up inside of Julian. Enough anger accumulated to literally punch his father, but he restrained himself, for he was too polite to ever do that, as dubious as that may sound.

Another figure appeared behind him. Julian turned around in a fury at the 'whoosh' that had sounded and saw himself; but not exactly himself. It was himself before he had given himself that 'haircut'. The former Julian also had Curan Abbey attire on. This kind of freaked Julian out, and it made him begin to think; _What the Hades is going on here? These memories... why are they replaying on me? Do the Guardians have anything to do with this? If so, I wonder if they're on our side..._

"Are you me?" Julian asked the ghost, getting over his slight state of shock.

Ignoring the brunette Crest Sorceror's question, the other Julian stated, "You requested this dangerous mission because you wanted to be loved by someone. But what you really want is sympathy, you hypocrite."

The real Julian sank to his knees and put both of his hands to each ear. "AM I WRONG?! ANSWER ME!"

All the ghosts disappeared, laughing, excepting the other Julian.

"You don't love anyone, no one loves you. WAKE UP!" he commanded at Julian icily before disappearing himself.

Sniffling a bit, Julian raised his head a bit before saying, "That isn't true... I love the people of Filgaia enough to do this 'dangerous mission'..."

He was teleported back to the platform. Julian once again saw his other two companions talking about the events that they went through, about how they were 'old wounds of the past that they didn't want to relive' and all that.

Julian sobbed a little. He realized that he was still on his knees and that his eyes were beginning to leak a bit. Out of the corner of her eye, Cassie saw the brunette prince and dropped down to her knees at his side and began to comfort him, as he had done so many times for her. "Julian, what happened?"

Then he stood up, shaking off her hand, which she had placed on his shoulder previously to reassure him in a futile attempt.

"Ju-"

Julian shushed her. This confused both the blue-haired gunslinger and the blonde swordsman, as well as Hanpan, who was sticking his head out of Eric's trench coat pocket.

_This is the boy Stoldark had chosen? My, my... _a voice, distant in Julian's mind remarked. It sounded like a baritone male voice, an English accent with a little Cockney twist.

_What a weak mind! The weakening of Filgaia is really the weakening of the human soul! Gurdijeff! Do you really want this one to the decide Filgaia's destiny?_ another voice said inside his mind, this time a lower male voice, with a regular northern accent, with 'pitch induced curves'. XD

"The voice in my heart... is the voice of the Guardians..." Julian trailed off before attempting to listen more closely.

"What?" Eric asked Julian, clearly dumbfounded. "Damn you... show yourselves!" He raised his fist threateningly, even tho', there wasn't really anything near him that he could punch except fire, and let's just say, if he tried to punch fire, it wouldn't work very well.

_You may be right, Fengalon... Look at them. They look defeated. _This time, a soft female voice sounded in Julian's mind, with a nice Japanese accent, too.

"I can feel the emotions of the Guardians in my heart... the anger and rage... the doubt and sorrow..." Julian trailed off again, professing this feeling as if he knew it so well, he could recite their exact words.

"DAMN YOU!! STOP TOYING WITH US!!!" Eric yelled to no one, his slightly shrilly voice piercing the silence like the scream of a child in a Perkins restaurant... not that Perkins is silent, but damn it, those screams are annoying...

The room faded to 'vast nothingness', pitch black darkness, but when they waved their hands in front of their faces, they could once again see them perfectly. The room then lit up into a technicolor wonderland. But, if you can't exactly comprehend what I'm trying to say, my cousin Molly is like 9 years old, and when that scene came on she was like, 'Ooh, that's pretty...' while looking at it all starry-eyed. So yeah.

A dragonesque creature with azure scales and bright neon green spikes that extended from its shoulders all the way down to the end of its tail appeared. But it wasn't really real. It was actually a spirit, for you couldn't exactly feel any magical power around it...

"I am the Earth Guardian, Gurdijeff. We called out for help, and the Innocent One and the two Guardian Warriors answered our call..." the same soft female voice said to the three companions.

Another figure appeared. This time, it was a bird who didn't have feathers, but instead of that usual, they were flames. On its legs were black armor, a design on each one. Its midsection and breast parts were covered with that same kind of armor. It's beak was normal, and it sort of went downward at the edge. Its eyes burned red like the intensity of a thousand suns...

"I am the Fire Guardian, Moa Gault. I have looked into your souls. They are weak and vulnerable. They are not strong enough to take on the demons whom we have been contending with for the past millenium," the one with the northen accent told them.

A, what seems like "Tiger in a tornado" appeared. It had white fur, striped with timberwolf. On its forehead was a gem that looked like a ruby, which shined in the technicolor lighting. Its eyes were green, and they burned with the desire to... keep the wind currents a-ok? XD

"I am the Wind Guardian, Fengalon. We are the Guardians, and we need your help," the cockney accented one told them, baring its fangs for no apparent reason.

"First things first... damn you! Why have you been showing us these illusions? Answer me, Guardians!" Eric yelled at the three figures, trying desperately to get an answer as to why these... Guardians were trying to pick him apart.

"To see if your souls were strong enough. They aren't yet, but we figure once this journey leads to defeating Zeikfried, your souls will be strong enough... and, of course, where there's a will, there's a way. All you really have to do is believe in yourself, and, as Zephyr would say, have hope to believe in the future. Hope can really accomplish anything..." the fire stated, sort of... rambling. XD

Fengalon sighed before saying, "You hold the key to our existance. As well as the existance of Filgaia."

"Yes. The Tear Drop..." Gurdijeff added sadly.

"The Tear Drop?" Julian asked the draconic creature, clearly shocked. "How do you know?"

"We know. We can feel its power. As your father said, the Tear Drop, in the wrong hands, could destroy Filgaia," Fengalon explained. Then the male Wind Tiger realized he had brought up the King of Adlehyde, the one man that Julian sincerely hated, so he quickly apologized.

"So the demons want to destroy Filgaia with it, huh? That's pretty typical, I suppose," Julian asked Fengalon, really wanting to get off the subject of his father.

"Well, no actually. They want to use it to reincarnate their master, the Mother," was Fengalon's riposte. Which probably made no sense to the blue-haired gunslinger or the blonde swordsman. Maybe Hanpan, tho'.

"Mother?" Cassie asked the three figures drifting in the air ahead of them. "So that's the name of their master, eh?" She chortled a bit.

"Warriors!" Gurdijeff vociferated quite loudly, causing our three Guardian Warriors to jump. "Do you still seek our power?"

"Well, we can't possibly do this ourselves..." Julian told the three Guardians, kind of scraping his feet on the ground with his hands behind his back... innocently. XD

"All right. We will give you the power you seek, but time is running out. You will be able to summon us into your reality," Gurdijeff explained while waving her tail a couple times.

Force: SUMMON GUARDIAN acquired. (Random Rune icon inserted here)

"Okay, now..." Fengalon and Moa Gault said together while focusing their energy. They disappeared somewhere and the three Guardian Warriors were left with no trace of anybody at all. Except Gurdijeff, of course.

"To reclaim the Tear Drop, we-"

Then Gurdijeff disappeared. The screen whites out, while the technicolor background glows brighter shades of crimson until it actually became white.

The three warriors were again teleported back to the platform they were once on. They felt a sharp pain surge through their veins twice, the pain nearly unbearable. It caused them to drop to their knees, looks of terror strewn across their faces.

"Agh!" Julian grunted while rubbing the last spot the pain had been last. "What happened?"

"That was a jolt from the dark spear of Zeikfried!" Gurdijeff explained, but there were still looks of confusion on the faces of the Rudy and Jack alternates. "We are not strong to transfer to the battle."

This confused the two even further, for they did not see a soul that was attacking them. They thought that maybe Julian was keeping something from them?

This scene ends here. The next scene will be interesting, for it will show you all of the villians, including this mysterious 'Zeikfried'.

--------------------------------

The Photosphere; excavated in Arctica. A man in armor stood with his back turned to the screen. He was wearing a ridiculous purple cape and blue armor. He also wore a helmet/visor on his head, so you couldn't exactly see his hair or facial features.

He turned around. The only part of his face you could actually see was his mouth and his nose. He was definitely caucasian, I can at least tell you that much. "That damned Guardian! He scanned the area with his mind!"

Two ladies, one we know as Lady Scarlett appeared. The other one had bright red hair, with armor to match. She had a hair accesory, too, which looked like two angel wings. The two wings extended from each side of her head. Were they connected? I don't know, I haven't looked at Lady Harken that close. XD

"His scans have been shut off..." Lady Harken informed, trailing off so Lady Scarlett could finish the line.

"The Duke's mansion is superb..." Lady Scarlett finished.

A weird bloaty thing wearing a pink sheet with a gold mask on its face with a ruby on the forehead. And if this thing was female, which I superbly doubt despite the pink sheet, it probably forgot to take its Midol this morning, if you catch my drift here. In, what seemed to be a hand, carries an NOS energy drink, so you just know that this thing had to be hyperactive. XD

"Well, the humans have come in contact with the Guardians! What the Hiades are we gonna do now?" the bloaty figure asked them, sounding... male.

"Hey, don't ask me, Emilio! I'm just a swordstress like my friend, Lady Harken here! I'm not a miracle worker..." Lady Scarlett eyed the bloaty figure, now dubbed as Emilio (cough) Rip-off (cough), in a peculiar way. It would definitely make Count Olaf proud.

"Sorry, sorry," Emilio apologized quickly, taking a sip out of the 16 ounce can of NOS.

The same ugly green... thing that helped with the attack on Adlehyde a week ago walked up to the four after entering the door. Notice this thing doesn't have any teleportation skillz. Well, maybe it does, or maybe it'll acquire them later... I'm rambling, aren't I?

"Right, when I see them squirm in the flames, I can feel my power..." Belselk trailed off bitterly.

"You know, we could have gotten the Tear Drop with less destruction, you know," Lady Harken exclaimed.

"Eh... what are you talking about, you newbie!" Belselk asked her, infuriated a bit.

"Be quiet, you two! Lady Scarlett, where's Zed?" the armored one asked, quite intent on getting an answer.

"Um, he's well, in Port Timney, trying to... " Lady Scarlett cleared her throat quick. "Trying to get some ship-goers... uh... scared," she explained while giving him a weak smile.

"Eh, whatever.We have to kill those three meddling humans and that... rat thing. I think they call it Hanpan. But whatever. They might be dangerous to our plans..."

Belselk waved a dismissive hand to the other four. "Sorry, but this one is mine," he claimed the job as he walked away, the ball-and-chain still in hand.

"Why does he get to have all the fun? I'm going to the convenience tent near Court Seim to get some more of this delicious taurine-induced stimulant..." Emilio told the other three before magic white ball-teleporting out of there to go to his desired destination.

Lady Harken said nothing, then reverse drop-teleported to wherever her heart's content wanted her to go.

Lady Scarlett walked up to the armored figure and put a hand to his shoulder before saying, "Have fun, Zeikfried..."

This one called Zeikfried, told her, "Please, Lady Scarlett, call me Zeik. Zeikfried makes me sound... old..."

Lady Scarlett was tempted to say, "But you are old," but refrained from saying for conditions between them didn't need to get worse. She might be demoted to... Zed's position. A cronie. And she was dead-set against that.

She then teleported away to accompany Zed in Port Timney, to frighten ship-goers out of their wits for pure amusement.

"Mother..." the one called Zeik addressed to the cocoon figure I forgot to mention before. "When you awaken, will the remainder of the Quintuple Knights share our dreams?"

----------------------

The three Guardian Warriors (plus Hanpan) were teleported to somewhere southeast of Baskar Village. Eric got to his feet first. Then Cassie did. She got to Julian and shook the seemingly unconscious brunette Crest Sorceror awake, because she was... good at it.

"Where are we?" Eric asked the rather dizzy prince.

"The place of the seal. Gurdijeff said she would lead us here..." Julian replied with no control over the pitch of his voice.

"So you're telling me that the Demon Queen is buried somewhere around here?" Eric inquired to the still rather dizzy Julian. "I don't like this... not at all. Being dragged all around Filgaia and having to save the planet from this... Zeikfried person..."

Julian then noticed he was holding three stone slabs... each with a different design...

FIRE, WIND, AND EARTH RUNES acquired. (Fire, Wind and Earth Rune icons inserted here)

Julian gave a rune to each of his companions (excluding Hanpan), and put the remaining rune (the Wind Rune) in his knapsack for safe-keeping.

"What is this seal that the Guardians are willing to risk the last of their strength to protect?" Julian asked to no one in particular, looking off into the daylight.

"I don't know," Cassie replied, scratching the back of her head. "You don't suppose we should head to Baskar Village? It's just northwest of here..."

Julian nodded, apparently inclined to acquiesce her request.

They reached the village in about a half hour. Baskar Village was a place that was pretty much in touch with nature. The entire village was actually an Indian tribe. The houses that weren't teepees were made out of adobe, sunbaked mud.

They were greeted by a little girl who actually seemed as if she was waiting for them.

"Hello, Guardian Warriors... we have been awaiting your arrival..." the little girl greeted them, bowing graciously.

This sort of weirded the blue-haired gunslinger and the blonde swordsman out because... 'awaiting their arrival'? Who says that anymore?

"Hello, little girl..." Julian said while exchanging the bow. "We have come to speak with the chief of the village. I hear he's the only one who can really explain what we have to do to rescue Filgaia from the Metal Demons' clutches..."

The little girl bowed again, then said, "Follow me..." She turned around to lead them to the largest building in the entire village. Inside, was a particularly old Native Filgaian man standing by a fire, an equally as old Shephard dog sitting to the right of him. The other thing they observed was that this building was also an Inn, because there was an innkeeper to the right of them.

When Julian came up to him, he was silent for a second. The old man recognized him right away, then took off the feather that adorned his unusually long hair. "I have long forgotten my name. But, I am the chief of Baskar Village nonetheless. Innocent One... Guardian Warriors... is information the item you seek?"

Julian nodded, then felt his other companions' presences to the right and left of him. "Yes. We want to know why we must save Filgaia, the past of Filgaia and various other goodies that you might want to tell us, too."

The chief nodded, then started to tell the story. "1,000 years ago, when the demons withdrew from the war, the humans took the Demon Queen's heart, ripped it in three, and sealed them in three different Guardian statues. One third in the statue of Denogenos, located at the top of Mount Zenom, north of Baskar Village. One third in the statue of Ione Paua, located in the center of Saint Centour. And the last third in the statue of Nua Shakks, located on a ship near the town of Port Timney," the chief explained, wondering if the three understood. "I suppose the Demons desecrated the statue of Zeldukes in Adlehyde a week ago during the attack as well, right?"

"Yes!" Eric exclaimed. "They thought it had a piece of the Queen's heart in it, didn't they?"

"I suppose so. Since it was at Belselk's command... a little less than competant is what Belselk is," Cassie said bitterly, crossing her arms and shaking her head, overwrought with disgust.

"This is true..." Julian agreed.

"Well, anyway, they're not only after the Tear Drop, but they're also after those three statues. Those are the four keys to unlocking the seal that the humans put on Mother 1,000 years ago. If we could prevent them from destroying just one statue, we can prevent the Mother from reviving," the chief said, a hint of premature relief in his voice.

"So..."

"I believe you are the callers of the Zephyr. Go to the Wind Caller's Altar north of the village. The guard there should be able to help you..."

--------------------------

5 minutes later, at the altar...

"If you are the true callers of the West Wind, go up the stairs and attempt to summon the West Wind..." the guard said, moving aside to make way for the trio.

"Summon the West Wind?" Eric repeated slowly, not very sure if he heard that or not.

"Affirmative..." the guard confirmed with no pause.

The trio (including Hanpan) go up the stairs and look out at the sunset, the horizon beautiful, the reddish/orange hue sparkling in their eyes.

And, of course, Eric had to ruin the mood by whistling, then yelling out, "WEST WIND!!! COME HERE, BOY!!"

Julian looked at him peculiarly, then asked him, "Eric, are you trying to be funny or are you actually serious?"

"Actually, I don't even know," was Eric's riposte. "But if you think you can do it better than I can, let's hear it."

Julian backed down immediately. He wanted to save his heartfelt attempt for tomorrow because he was quite tired as of today.

Since the guard didn't see a black dragon appear out of nowhere, he walked up the stairs. "Maybe you can wait until tomorrow. It's getting quite late, and I don't think Zephyr works afterhours."

The trio, including Hanpan, walked back to the inn, then they pulled on the covers and slept peacefully. This is where the end of this chapter is, peoplez! WooOOOooooOOoOOoooo

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Dani: Finally! I know it's been a while, but this is a long-ass chapter. Hopefully, I can get the next one finished sooner.

Rudy: Yeah, and hopefully, you'll stop using alternate adjectives and pronouns for Cassie. Seriously...

Jack: Aw, hush up, Rudy. She writes this, not you.

Dani: I concur, Jack. I concur.

Cecilia: So, how will this next chapter be set out.

Dani: That... is a secret until I get it typed and uploaded. So ha, nyah, and whatever other triumphant exclamatory word I'm missing as of right now.

Cecilia: Suuuure.

Dani: I bid you good day, and my eyes good night, for they watched my fingers type 40 KBs today. (dies)


	7. Poise and Rationality

Wild ARMs: Rehabitated and Rehabilitated

by Black Fenril

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Disclaimer: Yeah, MediaVision owns Wild ARMs, as well as Sony. What I mean is, Sony owns Wild ARMs, because it owns Playstation- oh, what am I trying to do. Don't sue me, I'm poor.

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Chapter 7: She'll Be Coming Around Mount Zenom When She Comes...

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The next morning, at the Baskar Village inn, the chief and the innkeeper were looking over the three Guardians, plus the blue Wind Mouse sleeping on the blonde swordsman's stomach. When he showed some signs of waking up, they backed away from the three separate beds.

Hanpan opened his eyes, stretched out his little Wind Mouse arms/paws and scampered right next to Eric's right ear, on the pillow. He yelled as loud as his Wind Mouse could allow, "YO, ERIC!! HOT GIRLS AT TEN 'O CLOCK!!"

Eric shot up from his pillow and rolled over onto the floor. Once he regained his composure, he got to his feet again, looked around in a fury and then turned back to Hanpan and snarled, "Liar."

Hanpan yelling (and the thump that sounded from Eric dropping to the ground) caused our blue-haired gunslinger to wake up, shooting up from her... not-so fluffed up pillow. Her head shot from left to right. Then she turned her gaze to the blonde swordsman with a look of shock and confusion on her face, not exactly aware of Hanpan's 'lie'.

"What?" Eric asked her, not very happy with the little blue Wind Mouse's 'lie' either.

"Nothing..." she trailed off while getting up and going into the bathroom to do all of her business and clean up and all that.

The blonde 27-year-old sat down and put his head in his hands, wondering why he had just yelled at the girl he had just begun to grow accustomed to... _Oh, well... It's not like I love her... or do I? Nah. I've got other women to worry about as of right now... Right?_

"You thinking about something, Eric?" the blue Wind Mouse asked him, worrying about him. Eric raised his head from his hands to look at Hanpan, who scampered to his shoulder.

"Well, technically, I suppose I'm thinking about something, but not anything special in particular," was his riposte, apprehension faint in his voice.

Hanpan nodded his little Wind Mouse head, not believing that. He patted Eric on the shoulder and scampered down to the floor and picked up his minuscule sack tied to a stick. Eric looked down at him in confusion, wondering why he had his own little... knapsack thing.

"What?" Hanpan inquired to the blonde swordsman, slightly annoyed. He scampered back up to Eric's shoulder, and moved his sack-on-a-stick to his other shoulder.

"Nothing. I just thought that you always kept your stuff in my knapsack, Hanpan." Eric still looked confusedly at him. And it was true, Hanpan had always kept his stuff in with Eric's stuff, but enough about that?

"Well, it's about time this mouse gets some individuality," Hanpan said to him, confidence indubitably showing in his posture, holding his Wind Mouse nose high in the air. Or should I say, snout? Yes, I should. Snout. XD

Eric laughed a bit in nervousness, then started to twiddle his thumbs. Hanpan took some humor out of this and laughed some.

That's when the Rudy alternate came out of the bathroom, wearing the trademarked Rudy look, femalicized. If that makes sense. If it doesn't, well... too bad, so sad.

The treasure hunter looked her over, noting that even tho', she was wearing the tackiest boots that any cobbler on Filgaia could ever make. And I'm not just saying that. They were, Guardians forbid, they were beige, and not a very pretty beige. It's kind of like the pukey beige that you find in car interiors on earth that looks like somebody threw up inside it before the car dealer sold it to you. That's how terrible it was. But anyway, Eric still found the female ARMslinger beautiful, despite the ugly boots.

She walked around the room a bit, then sat down on the bed and began to polish her Hand Cannon ARM, for she found it just a little bit annoying to not do anything on this day, waiting for Julian to wake up, do his business, then for Eric to do the latter of what Julian needed to do.

"Are you going to be anti-social, or what?" Eric asked her, also slightly irked for she was being a hermit.

Annoyed even further, she retorted, "What I'm doing is waiting for you and Captain Sleepy over there to wake up. I'm getting impatient!" She continued to polish the ARM more aggressively than usual, pissed off at the world for a couple different reasons.

Taken aback a little at her assertiveness, he thought, _Must be that time of the month..._ He then shrugged it off and walked into the bathroom to do his business.

He came out 30 minutes later with his trademark look, a black shirt with a beige shirt over it, keeping warm with his trademark brown trench coat, rolled up sleeves all the way up to his elbows. He also wore indigo pants (tight for the ladies, of course) and boots that almost came up to his knees. Ah, yes, and the green torn-up ribbon that he always wore in his hair, tied near the bottom.

He walked over to the bed he had slept in last night, then came to see that Julian had awakened. "When'd you wake up, Julian?" he inquired to him, not actually really caring for an answer. What do you call that type of question? Ah, yes, rhetorical!

"Uh, some time after you went into the bathroom to do your business, Eric," was the brunette prince's cheerful riposte. Julian's appearance was a mess, due to the fact that he had just woken up.

Eric shrugged the reply off, then unsheathed his Might Blade broadsword, releasing a shockwave that shook the ground, getting a squeak out of the innkeeper and Cassie. Then the blonde swordsman began to polish it, making the sheen coming off of it even more so shiny. Julian wanted to take it away from Eric and f34r it, but he figured the Rudy alternate would smack him. Again. So he declined from that thought. Anyway, Julian got up from his bed, went to do the three S's, then came back out 24 minutes later with a whole different new ensemble on.

This time, he was wearing blue jeans with red pockets on them. Then, a black shirt with white bold letters on them that said, 'If my music's too loud, you're too old', and the blue jacket that he had worn before. On his feet were black NSS's (again). So maybe his ensemble isn't totally all-new tricked-out pimpin' street-wear, but come on, people! I'm not a fashion designer.

Right as he exited the bathroom, he asked cheerfully, "So, shall we go tackle Mount Zenom?"

Not-so cheerful ripostes sounded, such as, "Yeah, I guess we should." and "Whatever." Julian didn't bother asking why the other two (excluding Hanpan) were so crabby, because he already knew. But since I'm not creative at all right now, I'll just leave a cliffhanger for that thought.

Before they left for said mountain, the chief piped up, chirping, "But remember to go to the Wind Callers' Altar just north of the village!" He smiled after he reminded them of that necessity, hoping to bring maybe some happiness to the three Guardian Warriors.

"Oh, right." was all three of their responses.

They go to the Wind Callers' Altar. It was the same at it had been the night prior to this day, with the same guard, the same steps that brought you up to the top of the altar.

"Well, you can go on up and try to summon the West Wind again. If you'd like, of course," the guard 'greeted' them, moving out of the way... instantaneously.

So, without further ado, here is the heartfelt attempt, as I had promised you in the last chapter. If you don't think it is heartfelt, well, too bad, so sad.

They ascended the stairs. Since Julian was intent on attempting to summon the West Wind first, he stepped in front so he was the trio (quartet if you count Hanpan) leader. He put his hands on hips and poised himself like a victor and said, confidence clearly dominant in his voice, "West Wind! We are the Guardian Warriors and the Innocent One! Come out, Zephyr! We know you're there!"

Nothing happened. This almost got a laugh out of Eric, but he bit back laughter for he didn't want to hurt the Crest Sorceror's feelings. (gasp!) Is Eric going soft? (sniggersnigger)

Feeling a bit irked because of the former futile attempt, Julian got impatient, and screamed out, "Zephyr! The West Wind of Hope! Your great, flapping wings will bring hope back to Filgaia!... Hopefully..."

"Please, Zephyr! We have hope for Filgaia (as dubious as that may sound)! If you come back, maybe everybody in Filgaia will reclaim their hope!" the blue-haired gunslinger cried out, trying her best to inform Zephyr of Filgaia's impending doom.

"West Wind! All three of us have belief in the future! The Guardian of Hope will cause everyone in Filgaia to be strong and maybe even -gasp!- agree with us!" the swordsman extraordinaire yelled out, feeling a bit mystic as of right now.

But nothing happened once again. Since the guard once again didn't see the black-hued draconic figure, he walked up the stairs and gave his 'Hope' speech.

"It seems the West Wind of Hope, Zephyr, is once again not answering your call. Zephyr is the power derived from Hope, an emotion which everybody has seemed to forgotten, as well as two others, Love and Courage. If you truly become the callers of the West Wind, come back and call for the West Wind..."

"Thank you, Mr. Guard..." the Rudy alternate thanked, because she didn't know his name. Truly, we don't either, because the game didn't give us a name. So we'll just stick with 'Guard'. -cough-

Since, of course, Eric didn't want his 'Might Blade' anymore, he suggested they go and purchase some new weaponry. Once they got to the Weaponry guy, they noticed that there was no building built especially for the Weaponry shop, like there had been the previous times. But anyway, they bought a Claymore rapier for Cassie, a Vopal Razor saber for Eric and a Prism Stick wand for Julian. So I'll skip the 'thank you's and get right to the... thing.

"Well, off to Mount Zenom, then?" the oldest of the trio inquired, kind of intent on going, for he was getting rather impatient. As usual.

"I suppose, since that's where the chief told us to go..." Julian trailed off.

"Well, off we go then."

------------------------------

When they got there, they noticed that it was explicitly cold, there. The terrain was mighty familiar to Eric, so he could skate across the ice fairly easy. The other two... not so much. The snow, was of course, opposite of warm and white. -cough- Most of it, anyway. Zephyr's Messenger quickly stepped aside when he saw the Guardian Warriors, while uttering out, "I believe you will be victorious!" The trio stepped inside the cave and were surprised to see that it was lit. This gave our characters some newfound confidence, so they put smiles on their faces and solved the first cave puzzle with ease. But since I'm impatient as of right now, we'll skip ahead to the new Fast Draw hint for Eric.

-------------------------------

So, yeah, 20 minutes later, at the 'New Fast Draw Hint Site'...

Since Eric had just opened one of those beige chests that blow up by himself, the chest blew up right after he took out what was in there; a Heal Berry. He fell to his ass, then put a hand to his forehead and 'pissed offedly' stated, "Ouch! That chest just blew up! And for what!? A damned Heal Berry!" He got up, rubbed his ass, muttered out another 'Ouch' and regained his composure.

A very-close-to-laughing Julian informed him, "Well, um, there are four more chests, mind you..." He ate the protruding Heal Berry after snatching it out of Eric's hand, because when the chest blew up, he had lost HP. After he ate half, he handed the other half to the gunslinger, because that was the gentleman thinger to do.

"Yes, yes!" Eric said, disgruntled. "I know what I should do. I should send Hanpan out to get the other four."

Before Hanpan had a chance to object, Eric threw him out to acquire what was in the other four. Hanpan grabbed what was inside each one, each blowing up milliseconds after he had gotten away. The little, blue Wind Mouse acquired four more Heal Berries.

"Heal Berries..." Eric muttered under his breath. If his voice had been audible, you could clearly detect scorn in it. "Whoever came up with those is gonna get a piece of my mind..."

With that, they decided to depart from that scene. But all didn't go according to their plan. The ground began to shake, causing them to slide down the incline again. There were a few more violent quakes before boulders began to roll down. One came plummeting down right towards Eric. Before it hit him, he jumped out of the way, taking Hanpan along with him. He landed at Cassie's feet, which didn't shock our audience. XD But anyway... Nobody had dropped to their knees, for they were too etched by the wasteland to be afraid of anything. And I mean ANYTHING.

"Oh, jeez, I couldn't move there for a second..." the cerulean-haired female professed, scratching the back of her head.

Hanpan was thinking of something as usual. Usually when this happens, he sheds new light on something that was originally shaded in with darkness. This is nooooo exception, peoplez.

"Hmm... if one of those boulder things would have gotten us, we would have been crushed..." he informed. Not that that wasn't obvious, though. Eheh.

A thought struck Eric. "So that means if I use my sword from higher up, it will always do more damage?"

"Not always, but it wouldn't hurt."

FAST DRAW HINT acquired. -cute sword icon inserted here-

The next battle, Eric mastered the hint. It was used on a Shrieker. Ya know, one of those mushroom thingers that can confuse/paralyze you. We'll save the description of the attack for later, because I'm just that lethargic. -smile- The Fast Draw was named Meteor Dive, by the way, so I don't forget to mention it later. :)

"Congratulations, Eric!" both of the teenagers said, patting him on the shoulder at the same time.

"Finally, a move that will replace Psycho Crack!" Eric exasperatedly stated, still feeling the fire energy coursing through his veins.

"Well, isn't somebody lucky! I couldn't even find a Magic Guild in Baskar Village!" Julian put his head down, staring dejectedly at his new Prism Stick crest sorcery wand.

"Hmm... wonder why..." Eric trailed off.

Since the blue-haired gunslinger had read this in a book of her Grandfather's once, she explained, "Baskarians were cast out from the rest of Filgaia 1,000 years for a reason I don't know why. They believe in 'Returning to nature', as opposed to the 'coexistance with nature' taught by the Curan Abbey. That's why there isn't a Magic Guild in Baskar Village. Get it now?"

All three of the males looked shockedly at the female, wondering how she knew that.

"WHAT!"

---------------------------------

After a couple mad cries of "DAMNED DEVONOVAS!", they had reached the top of the mountain. Oh, yeah, AND Julian had acquired this cool new spell book, the Secret Book, I think it was called. But anyway... There was the statue of the Mountain Guardian, Denogenos, still intact. Julian stepped in front of the trio and leaned down to check the statue out. "Is this it?"

A couple seconds later, Belselk appeared. Except this time he was floating. Had he learned some typeof levitation skill? Heh. Doubt it. "You're too late!"

"BELSELK!" Eric yelled out, fury indubitably clear in his vociferation. He then placed his hand on the hilt of his new saber, ready to execute his new Fast Draw hint anytime now. He then gave Belselk a look that obviously said, 'I don't care what the Hades you do next'.

Belselk clearly saw the ruthlessness the blonde swordsman displayed in his expression, then called upon his Crazy-Ass Laser Beams of Impending Doom of the Denogenos statue. The purple-hued beams crushed the Guardian statue, desecrating it to smithereens. Poor thing. After Belselk had carefully checked over the damage he had inflicted for a few seconds, he yelled, "Well, my work here is done. Have some fun with a 'fiend' of mine! I bid you bad day, humans!" In a flash of light, Belselk disappeared.

"That guy can't come up with very good evil exits..." Cassie snickered out, unaware of the shadow that was forming on the three Guardian Warriors. Both of the men jumped out of the way of it. It almost smushed the blue-haired ARMslinger, and would have, too, if Julian hadn't sprang at her, pushing her and himself out of the way of being crushed.

After they had came around back to Eric again, the battle began. I shall give you the description of the demon right after I do the featured music when you do a non-Quarter knight demon battle.

-Ahem!-

DA DA!!! Da Da Da Daaaaaaa...

And so, the battle began.

The demon was indeed an arachnid (a spider for those without a medula oblongata), an arachnid mutated up to 1,000 times its original size. It also had a 'dignified' symbol on its back representing something that is beyond my puny intellect. Did I just insult myself? -smileysymbolinsertedhere-

Since right now, Eric's turn was first, I'll make him do his newest Fast Draw! Eric yelled out, "METEOR DIVE!!" He unsheathed his sword while yelling that out, by the way. Fire energy emanated through his body. He jumped up higher than your average human could, and brought down the Vopal Razor onto the arachnid-type thing. It shrieked in pain, trying desperately to disappate the anguish. It lost close to 1,000 hit points, and decided to take its oppurtunity to attack.

The Orga Widow, as Wild ARMs likes to call it, cast its 'Poison' skill on Julian, attempting to burden him with the status error of Poison, apparently. It failed.

Julian decided to cast his favorite spell, Valkyrie. He let loose the Spiritual Psychedelics after yelling out,"VALKYRIE!" Eight multi-colored, effulgent balls of light were produced from out of nowhere, crashing into the Orga Widow on contact. They did about 800 HP damage (because we think Julian did that 255-of-an-item cheat on a Mystic Apple while we weren't looking). "YES!" he exclaimed, because he was feeling rather arrogant at the moment.

Realizing the oppurtunity to attack, the blue-haired gunslinger drew the Hand Cannon ARM out from her belt and aimed as best as she could without her Force move and shot. It just so happened that she had missed, so she cursed under her breath and put it back where she got it.

Seizing his turn, Eric called upon his first Force move, Accelerator. He called out the name, unsheathed his saber, and after a large number of tenchicolor lights shot out from his body, he used the Fast Draw named Psycho Crack. He sprang at the demon, slicing his sword through it painfully slow, causing it to again shriek in agony. Many silver lights shot out from the slicage, causing our Cecilia surrogate to mutter, "Shiny..." Eric ran fast backwards back to his respective place in the line of the trio while sheathing his saber back into the scabbard at his side.

After that, the Orga Widow froze, immobilized by depletion of hit points. It disintegrated into the air, being sent down to the 'true epitome of Hell'. If you were my English teacher, you would laugh at that, remembering that one fanfiction about Boomerang I wrote and let you read. -cough- Anyway, the arachnid-type thing died without much mess, letting the Guardian Warriors receive the alloted experience and gella you get when you defeat it.

With that, Julian ran toward the now-desecrated Mountain Guardian statue, picking up a piece of it. He then threw it over the ledge of the mountain. "Damn it... the resurrection of Mother is becoming a reality..."

"Well, there's two statues left! We better hurry along to Saint Centour, then..." the Rudy alternate trailed off. "But first, we better tell the chief of Baskar that the demons destroyed the first statue..."

---------------------------------

Some time later, at the bottom...

The guard that usually guards Mount Zenom tells them, "I have felt that the statue of Denogenos, the Mountain Guardian, has been destroyed. Messengers of Zephyr, please notify the elders about this..." He then moves out of the way so the quartet can do so.

They leave...

--------------------------------

At the Photosphere... the cocoon that supposedly holds the Demon Queen is alone...

"It's dark... I can't see... my children... Zeik... let me see you, let me hear you..."

Zed (from the incident at Memory Temple) and Lady Scarlett walk up to the cocoon.

"Who cares about the rest of the Quintuple knights! Now that Mother is awake!!" Zed exclaimed.

"Right, Zed! They are almost to Port Timney... I just hope Emilio's 'experiment' goes according to plan," Lady Scarlett said.

"Yes. If she has the Night Gaunt annihilate the humans, then we will definitely have no problem taking over Filgaia!" Zed continued, wondering about that.

"I wonder what Zeik plan to do after we take over Filgaia. Will he have us live here or will he destroy it?"

"Well, the reason we came to Filgaia was to claim it after Hiades was taken over," Zed explained. "You're a Quintuple knight. You should know that."

"But you do know Mother's intentions, right? She wants to destroy Filgaia just like she destroyed Hiades."

"Well, I guess, but Zeik can override her decision, right?"

"I don't know. But I hope he can, because this is my home planet. I remember a lot of people from here..."

Zed just shrugged. "Well, anyways, back to Port Timney! Fame and glory awaits!"

--------------------------------

Back at Baskar...

"One third of the Demon Queen's heart has been released... I can sense it," the chief professed. "There are two more Guardian statues. The only way you can get around to Saint Centour and Port Timney is to use the Sworkassi Pyramids..."

"But I thought they were out of order!" Eric protested, wondering how that process would work.

The chief pulled something out of his chiefly robes. It was a flame, burning brightly inside the glass jar it was concealed in. If you want to ask how brightly... it burned with the desire and intensity of a thousand suns, all right? -scoffscoff- "They are, but the Kizim Fire of Baskar should be able to unlock the inactivity," the chief explained.

KIZIM FIRE acquired -Kizim Fire icon inserted here-

"Use it to light the furnace hidden behind the left waterfall..." was the last thing the chief said before beginning to feed the Shephard to the right of him.

---------------------------------

At the Sworkassi Pyramid...

I love this music! It's so melancholy but it's still good! -sigh- I wonder mind downloading the midi for this song...

"Okay, did he say left waterfall or right waterfall?" Eric asked.

"Uh, left," both of the teenagers replied.

Behind the left waterfall is where they found the door leading to another floor, which lead to something that looked like an ancient control panel.

"Is this the furnace?"

"Yes... so many questions, Eric!"

Cassie took out the Kizim Fire. After she took the lid off of the jar, it sprang at the control panel, sending Cassie backwards into Julian. While she apologized, she helped him up. She then sensed an unusual presence.

"A strange energy is filling this entire place..." Julian trailed off.

"To the teleporter!" Cassie said. "That will bring us to Saint Centour."

They use the teleporter. After they stepped onto the teleporter, a white light encased all three of them. The light then shot off into space, at the speed of light (ironic, huh? XD), then bounced off the reflector, then went a different direction, to northern Filgaia, near Saint Centour.

--------------------------------

_This is the land of the 'Holy' Power, which seals the evil heart!_

_--------------------------------------_

END CHAPTER 7

Jack: ...

Dani: See, I took mercy on you in this chapter.

Jack: Yeah, this chapter. And what's with the pink ink in the journal?

Dani: New penz. Rock on!

Rudy: Dani, what music are you listening to right now?

Dani: Emma's Theme midi. Why?

Rudy: No reason.

Dani: And we're nearing the end of ACT 1! AKA first journal, of course.

Cecilia: Yep! Then it's on to Journal #2! AKA the purple one.

Dani: Yep, which is actually better than the first. In journal form, of course. I just wrote those as guidelines. The current journal I'm in goes into more detail and actually has a guest starring of a celebrity. A very intelligent one. But I'm not gonna give away who it is. That'd be redundant!

Rudy: So go along to the next chapter (when it's written, of course XD)

-END of Author's Notes-


	8. The Emilio Parsons Project

Wild ARMs: Rehabitated and Rehabilitated

by Black Fenril

--------------------------------

Disclaimer: MEDIAVISION owns Wild ARMs, as well as Sony. Well, MEDIAVISION doesn't own Sony, Sony owns- Oh whatever. I own Tara Yurik and a shirt with Zed on it. F34r me. -cough- Thanks to too. Thanks to Mitch Hedburg for the awesome jokies, too. :) Oh, yes, and that one guy who does that Wheel of Time web comic.

--------------------------------

Chapter 8:

The Emilio Parsons Project

--------------------------------

On top of Cage Tower east of Saint Centour...

The pink-robed demon we know as Emilio was feeding a seed to a random human, forcing it down his throat. After he swallowed it, he murmured, "Now, that's the last human I have put the experimental seed in..." He hesitated for a second, then continued on, "When those three humans named Julian, Cassie and Eric get trapped in this.. .thing, I will press this button, and then... well, it's not gonna be good. For them, of course." He then tries to cackle maniacally, but ends up coughing his demon lungs out. "Damn it! I need more NOS! That foppish Zed better not have killed my taurine plant!"

-------------------------------

Our heroes have finally made it out of the Sworkassi Pyramid after being shot through space and whatnot. But they have failed to prevent Eric from throwing up inside the purple light thinger.

"You could have told us you get teleport-sick!" Julian chided at the blonde swordsman.

"How was I supposed to know!" Eric shot back.

"Guys! Shut up! You're giving me a splitting headache, for Guardians' sake..." the blue-haired gunslinger chided at them both.

Then, a couple minutes later, they ran into a guy that seemed to be just wandering around. He had about the same hue of hair as Eric; dirty blonde/light brown. His eyes were a green/grey, and his complexion fair. He was wearing a plaid button-down shirt, with khakis and brown loafers to match. Pretty much your equality of a boring middle-aged man, actually.

Since Cassie was the one leading the pack (as usual), she walked right up to him. Being the bold person she is (the exact opposite of her male counterpart, Rudy), she tapped him on the shoulder, then after the guy turned around, she asked him, "Hey, are you all right?"

Picking out the right choice of words (or so he thinks -snickersnicker-), he replied, "For the last couple days... I've been... just wandering..." The outside world was obviously oblivious to him.

"We can take you to Saint Centour, if you like. We're going there, too. So, it wouldn't be a problem," Julian said with a smile. A weak smile, of course.

"No. I need to get to Port Timney. I heard the Sworkassi Pyramids are up and running again. Could you direct me toward one?"

_The Sworkassi Pyramids just started to be functional a couple minutes ago, you dumbass! Guardians, how would you hear it, anyway! You've been in solitude for 'the last couple days'!_ was the few sentences that Julian wanted to point out, but didn't anyway, for he was a prince and more respectful than that. (Or so he thinks). Anyways.

"The Sworkassi Pyramid that leads to Port Timney from here is located south of Cage Tower, if that's what you were inquiring," the blue-haired gunslinger said proudly, thanking her Grandfather for teaching her ALL about geography.

"Thank you," was the only thing the man muttered before running off toward the tower, his short dirty blonde hair not blowing in the wind. (That sentence was redundant, I know.)

There was silence for a second before Julian spoke. "Jeez... you really know your geography," the brunette Crest Sorcerer complimented her.

"Well, my Grandfather taught me about it. It really comes in handy when you're a Dream Chaser these days."

"This is true."

"Well, shall we go to Saint Centour, now?" the blonde swordsman that I've established as Eric asked to the other two.

"Yeah!" was their ripostes.

They arrive at the Saint Centour entrance 40 minutes later. After about 10 statues of something I can't remember were, they walked up to the actual entrance. It was the Joint Dimensional Barrier that Julian had read about back when he studied at the Curan Abbey. At the top was a blue crystalline type thing that sparkled in the sunlight. The rest of it was made out of off-white brick as far as our heroes could tell. And, of course, very elegant-looking.

Eric stepped up to the thing, then tried to walk through the high-tech (especially for the time) entrance. The blue crystal turned red and an electric shock was emitted through the sides of the entrance. Eric was pushed back towards the other two (including Hanpan, of course), onto the ground, which was amazingly clean anyway.

The other two helped him up as he muttered, "Eh? I was pushed back..."

A police officer, about the age of 34 with dark brown hair sticking out from under his police hat thinger walked through the gate. He had very dark eyes, too. They shall pierce you with their sharpness!! Bwahahahahaaha! His outfit consisted of your usual policeperson attire. He was a 'boy-in-blue' to put it bluntly, with a shiny police badge to top it all off. It was so effulgent, Julian wanted to rip it off and f34r the poor thing, but he figured if he did, he would be apprehended by the police forces. Which would be bad. So yeah.

When he saw the Guardian Warriors help their partner in... righteousness up, he immediately apologized. "Sorry! We thought you guys were monsters. The Joint Dimensional Barrier you've just tried out here keeps the monsters out," he explained while pointing out said device.

Hanpan, hearing these new events, jumped out of Eric's pocket and stood on Eric's shoulder. "You don't think I triggered the device...?"

"Why would you?" the confused treasure hunter asked... confusedly.

While looking at the blue Wind Mouse sprite (and slightly wondering why the thing could talk), the police officer asked Eric the thing that Hanpan really regretted hearing, "What, is that thing your pet or something?"

"I'M NOT A DAMNED PET!! Eric and I are-" but Eric clamped a hand over the mouse's snout before he could say anything more.

"Er, sorry about him. He's sensitive on that subject. But anyways. Can we come in?" the blonde swordsman asked him before smiling weakly at him, then looking at Hanpan angrily.

"Yeah, just hold the little guy deep inside your pocket, then. That is, if you guys aren't monsters. If you are, you'll just be stopped again." He then turned around back to the town and moseyed on back to the pub.

"Well, I know what we should do," Julian said, devising an evil plan in that slightly malicious, royal brain of his.

"What?" the other two asked him, oblivious of the 'evil' that was to come.

"We should go straight to the Weaponry Shop!" he said, getting slightly excited at the thought of becoming more powerful, more experienced. Talk about a lust for omnipotency.

They walked through the barrier as Eric held Hanpan in the deepest part of his pocket and yen. It was as easy as pie. After they got to the Weaponry Shop...

They bought a Bronze sword rapier for Cassie, a Crystal Edge scimitar for Eric (who winced at the name) and a Rune Staff wand for Julian (who was rather pleased with the name and even more smug because now he could bind the 'Escape' spell to a Crest Graph).

"Hm. Wonder what we should do now... I mean, come on, people!"

Eyeing the brunette Crest Sorcerer peculiarly, Eric said, "Well... we could explore the town. Since the statue of Ione Paua rests in the middle of the town, my guess would be that the demons will probably destroy this entire village to desecrate the thing. It's a pity, too. This whole town's innocuous."

"That's a good point, I suppose. But anyways. where do you wanna go first? I mean, there's a lot of places here. Maybe we should go and upgrade an ARM or something. I'm bored."

"How can you be bored? This is a time of total coolness! A time to prove our worth!" the blue-haired gunlsinger said. "And plus, only boring people get bored."

The swordsman took offense, but shook it off immediately after it was dished out. "Whatever. I'll still second that propostion about the ARM-upgrade thing, though."

So, they went to the ARM Upgrade place and upgraded the Hand Cannon to 75 ATP, 20 more attack power points than it was before! Woohoo! Anyways, after that, they ran across a house where a blind girl lived. She looked about 13 years old. She had red hair, which was sort of long and not to mention, shiny. She wore a red dress that looked like it came of upper-middle class income. She had beautiful hazel eyes that sparkled when she smiled. Her name was Aithne, which was Celtic for 'little fire'. The weird thing was about Aithne was that she could tell the good people from the bad at just the sound of their voice. This is going to be proved in the next few paragraphs.

The first was the female ARMslinger's one consisted of these next words. "You're a nice person, but you've had many bitter experiences..." Aithne smiled weakly at her, but the matron Guardian Warrior took no offense.

"Wow. You hit the nail on the head with that one," she said, smiling at the girl kindly. "Do Julian next!" she said, then realized what she said and laughed on the inside. -my amusement only on that one, peoplez.-

_I wonder what I should say..._ Julian thought. He then joked, "Carmex is really redundant. I know it heals cold sores and seriously chapped lips, but it also makes the cold sore shiny and more noticeable. It's like cold sore high-lighter!"

Aithne thought for a second, then said, "You're a strong woman, but you haven't reached your full potential yet."

Julian blinked, then chided at the blind female, "I'm a male!" He balled his hands into fists and slanted his eyebrows.

This brought a laughing fit to the other two (even Hanpan joined in the guffawing), and went to the floor, clutching their sides, and, yes, laughing their asses off. Not that they had asses to actually laugh off, but you catch my drift, here.

After they were finished, Aithne apologized and said, "Who's next? I think I heard another male chortling."

Without answering, Eric started another Mitch Hedburg joke. "I bought a parrot, but it did not say 'I'm hungry', so it died." Then another. "I tried to walk into Target, and I missed. I think they should have people splattered all over the walls so you know where the doors are. Guy who worked there asked me, 'Can I help you with anything?' and I said, 'Just practicing.'"

The blind teenager processed the sound of his voice, not laughing and said, "You're very virtuous, but you're also easily hurt."

"Hm. That's reasonable. I guess I am easily hurt..." the blonde swordsman confirmed, thinking back to past memories that also acquiesced with what Aithne had just said.

"So, since we need to get going, Aithne, our time has come to depart. We need to save the world, mind you," Julian reminded her, musing in his mind about said events.

"Okay. I've kept you too long anyway. And it's my beddy-bye time. I'll meet you again sometime, if you ever want to come around again."

The Guardian Warriors bidded adieu to the girl and continued on.

To the east of Aithne's house, there was a house where a police officer dwelled. He was about 29 years old, and kept a diary at the left of him that you couldn't read! But anyways. He gave our heroes the Key Plate, or the key to Cage Tower for those with Short Term Memory Loss. He did this due to the fact that he was to busy with Saint Centour's crime to go and explore Cage Tower for the reason why everybody was disappearing from the town, then a couple days later reappearing back.

After the trio left the police officer's house, they explored the entire town. They found out that Saint Centour was the home of a Duplicator, or a key that opens those nasty, little bugger-doors that are sealed by magic. There were also various citizens blocking the way from obtaining some items that would make the journey somewhat easier. This erupted in Cassie yelling obscenities out loud to no one in particular. But after that, of course, she was happy, because she got to reload her munitions. After that CNN-worthy event, they ran into a guy north of the statue of Ione Paua, who claims he was taken away in the duration of the time that the world-renowned bounty hunter Calamity Jake was in town. (Yes, Calamity Jake. XD)

"So, I suppose we shall get with the program here for our adoring fans and continue on?" Julian asked, smiling weakly.

"We have adoring fans?" Cassie asked, looking into the camera lens. She then waved. "Hiiiiiii."

"Suuuuuure. Anyways. Onto Cage Tower, then?" Eric asked, unsheathing his sword and pointing it toward the entrance they were in front of, causing a shockwave thanks to his fighting technique. This inspired the other two to follow suit, drawing their weapons while cheesy, inspirational music played.

"Enough of this," the blue-haired gunslinger said while putting her Hand Cannon back in its container and therefore walking on. The other two followed soon after.her, also sheathing their weapons of 'mass destruction'.

--------------------------------

30 minutes later, they reached the place known as Cage Tower. The place was snowing and raining at the same time. In other words, you wouldn't want to be there if somebody loved you. Also, the place was very high in altitude and our Guardian Warrior heroes figured it wouldn't be very easy to climb, with its velocity and all.

Julian looked up at the large structure in awe. "Uh... are you guys really sure you wanna do this?"

The ARMslinger gave the prince an annoyed look and continued on walking toward it. After she walked to the door, she realized that it was locked. "So this must be the door that the police officer was talking about, sealing off the ruin from the rest of Filgaia." She dug in her knapsack for a second, then pulled out the key necessary to unlock the door. After she inserted it into the slot, the doors disappeared instantaneously and therefore, allowing them to enter the building.

"Meh. Maybe this won't be so bad..."

--------------------------------

20 more minutes later, in the pit of the ruin...

They were in the first part of the tiles-falling-down-to-the-void-like-abyss. Eric, observing the pitch darkness of the chasm, knew he'd seen something like this before... but where?

"Something about this seems familiar..." the swordsman trailed off, taking a step on one of the colorful tiles. Then he suddenly remembered what they were, but too late, and almost fell down into the black nothingness, if both of the teenagers hadn't caught him in time. They struggled to pull him back up, and when they finally did, they fell to both of their asses, Eric on all fours, panting.

"THIS WON'T BE SO BAD, HUH?!" Julian chided at them both, slanting his eyebrows. "You know... I wonder how we can make that tile come back up... since it has shown no sign of coming back up like those stop-light/go-light thingers in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back when you fight Tiny..." the Crest Sorcerer trailed off, with a slightly evil grin on his face.

"What are you getting at, Princey?" Eric asked him, quite intrigued, because maybe the guy had a plan.

Wincing a bit, Julian replied, "Well, I've got a tool somewhere in my knapsack that I obtained back in the Curan Abbey... it can turn back time and reset broken or fallen objects..."

"And you didn't tell us this before!" the azure-haired female chided at him. "Use it! I don't want to go back up those damned stairs again!"

"Lazy..."

With that, Julian took out said Pocket Watch and yelled out, "I would like that tile that just fell down to come back up! If you wouldn't mind of course..."

There was a snake-like, "Yesssssssssssss..." as the tile that had just fell levitated back up, just as it was before Mr. Forgetful stepped across it.

"Whoa... that thing really works..." Eric said, looking at the clocky thing and looking at it, interested. "Is that real gold?"

Julian raised an eyebrow, then uttered out, "Deja vu, man..." He then said, "Well, who's going on whom, here?"

The other two looked at him confusedly, then asked him, "Dude, what the Hades are you talking about?"

"Well, since these tiles go down speedy-quick, we'll need to devise some evasive maneuvers to conquer this arduous task. So, since Eric's probably the strongest, we'll all sit on his shoulders as he runs across, all right?"

The Guardian Warriors excluding Julian exchanged puzzled glances. Then the ARMslinger shrugged. "You think you can hold us up, Eric?"

Eric acquired a contemptuous grin, then unsheathed his scimitar again and held it out in a random direction, almost thrusting it into Cassie, but he caught it before that could happen. "Oop, sorry..." He sheathed it again, then punched the air one time, keeping his fist there. "We shall overcome!"

"Right!"

Julian and Cassie jumped onto Eric's shoulders, as the blonde swordsman ran for the next piece of land. Well, can't really call it land, I suppose, but I'm out on a limb here, so just bear with me...

"Yaaaaaaarrrr!!" Eric yelled, just like the Charge of the Light Brigade, a neat poem that I read for English class once. But anyways. "CHARGE, CHARGE!!"

The two teenagers exchanged somewhat annoyed expressions, then holding on for their dear lives so that they wouldn't fall off into the endless pit as Eric made his way to the next room. After he made his way across three patches of fallible ground, he let the two teenagers down off his shoulders and made his way up the stairs into the next room. After getting across another band of tiles, the three stopped to take another rest. What they found on that piece of ground were 2 bullet clips and Cassie's 2nd ARM, the Prism Laser.

She checked the new ARM out after opening its prism-like case, and believed it to be similar to her Hand Cannon, except a bit dusty cuz it's been in that ARM case for so damn long, it's accumulated enough dust to create a whole new country. But enough about the dust of Filgaia. That subject's much too boring.

She decided to try it out, cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. Technicolor lasers shot out from the barrel, then hitting the wall of the ruin, etching the surface of the wall, maybe even some old, rotted debris falling off from it.

Cassie looked at the damage that her new ARM had inflicted, then looked at the actual ARM, trying to discern whether or not she should keep it.

"That's, like a really insubstantial ARM..." Julian said, while pointing it out, his eyes going slightly thin, as Ash's does from Pokemon when he's trying to be a smartass.

"Oh, ya think!" Cassie yelled at him, whacking him on the head with a mallet, anime-style. This resulted in Eric laughing, of course, almost falling over, but still clutching his sides, laughing his non-existant ass off.

Cassie picked up the ARM that she had momentarily placed on the ground to whack Julian. She looked at it, shrugged, then set it down on the ground again, got her knapsack that was slung behind her back and unzipped it. She then put the ARM in there for safekeeping, even though, I don't think anybody's really gonna take an ARM that has a weak ATP like 10 or whatever it was.

She looked at Eric, then said, "Well, peoples, I think we better get going onto the rest of the ruin. Something mysterious is going on here, and I want to know just what..."

Julian kept his eyes like Ash's were, then said, "Yah, whatever..."

Cassie shot him a look that clearly said that she was annoyed, so Julian's eyes went back to their original amplitude, very afraid of the blue-haired gunslinger and/or what she might've done to him.

Anywho, the two teenagers jumped onto Eric's shoulders again (how that's physically possible, I don't know, but bear with me? D) and rode him (which sounds wrong, I know... ) to the next door, and got off when they got into the next room, Eric slightly panting.

Julian suddenly gasped. "Eric! Are you... -gasp- wearing down? Oh, my Guardians, call CNN!!"

Cassie shot him another look of extreme annoyance, shook it off, then said, "Well, since that one was tougher than the last one (the things being those tile puzzle thingers), I think you should watch out, Eric. From what it looks like here..." she took another look at what was ahead of them, scratched her chin for a second, then continued, "It'll be harder than the last one. Not that the last one was hard, but I think people without a Medula oblongata couldn't have figured that one out."

Both of the patrons looked at the female quizzically, then shrugged at the same time.

Hanpan poked his head out of Eric's pocket, then said, "She's right, ya know... When I was playing this game, I figured it out right away." He then jumped over onto the ARMslinger's shoulder and sat on it, smirking at the two males.

Both of them just look at the blue Wind Mouse, disoriented. "THIS IS A GAME!!! WHERE THE HADES HAVE YOU FRIGGIN' BEEN, MAN!"

The intellectuals on the other side of the conversation were blown away (well, not figuratively, though), their hair standing straight back, their faces scrunched up like something was gonna hurt 'em. "WHAT THE HADES ARE YOUR PROBLEMS, PEOPLE!!!" they both yelled, slightly taken aback at the other two's loudness.

Now, thanks to both of the equivocations of the opposite sides of the conversations, all four's hair was standing straight back, and they were all flinching. After that was over, Cassie and Julian jumped onto the blonde swordsman, and he started to run again. After he got to the end of the path of tiles, the two teenagers once again got off of his shoulders.

Also, at the end of the path, they found a Hell Hound, bent on killing them. It was alone, though, and was slain instantly by Eric's scimitar. Its body deteriorated until it was no more, and then, the trio of warriors trudged on.

Going up the stairs, nobody said anything except Cassie, who was complaining madly because she wanted to get on with the adventure rather than climbling up petty stairs.

After they reached the end of the tunnel of stairs, Eric started whistling 'Teenagers' by My Chemical Romance vainly, and very loudly, at that. And if you know the lyrics to the chorus of this song (which are 'Teenagers scare the living shit out of me/They could care less as long as someone'll bleed./So darken your clothes/or strike a violent pose/Maybe they'll leave you alone/But not me for those who don't know it), then you'd know that at least one of his companions took offense to it.

Julian noticed his whistling and complained about it. "Eric, why are you whistling?"

"Well, I thought the song was kind of fitting for the situation, what?" the blonde swordsman stated innocently, wondering if he was busted or not.

"Then what song is it, if it's so 'fitting' for this situation?" Julian asked. He looked over at Cassie, who was frowning because she knew the song profusely well.

She was the one to talk next, also. "It's a song called 'Teenagers', sung by My Chemical Romance."

Julian, unaware of who this 'My Chemical Romance' was, and definitely oblivious to the lyrics to said song, asked her, "Okay, then why are you frowning?"

The azure-haired ARMslinger looked at the prince, then said, "It's because of the lyrics to the part he was whistling. Even though, I guess I find it quite amusing."

"Okay, then what are the lyrics?"

This question was answered with another question. "Do teenagers scare the living shit out of you, Eric?" Cassie inquired with a grin so arrogant, it was contagious, and spread to Julian.

Eric's face turned into this: OO, and he stated, "I have no answer to that." He then whistled another tune innocuously.

"Eric, I think you should just give up whistling altogether, since, clearly, you gain nothing from it," Cassie honestly said, looking out to over the tile-maze they stopped at.

"Yes, in fact, you actually lose more than gain more, and another thing-" Julian got out before Cassie interrupted him by clamping a hand over his big, fat mouth.

"Too much, Julian..."

But, no, Julian fought himself out of the gunslinger's hand and screamed at him, "YOU HAY-GATHERING, GOAT-KISSING, TROLLUC-HUMPING, FADE LOVER!"

All of a sudden, Perrin Aybara comes out of nowhere and smacks the brunette prince across the face."YOU ARE NOT, AND I REPEAT, NOT MAKING A SHADOWBURN REFERENCE! YOU CANNOT, AND IN THE CASE THAT YOU CAN, YOU WILL NOT!"

Mat Cauthon soon followed behind Perrin, clutching his hat from the black teleporter he had just arrived from. "Hey, that wasn't so bad, Perrin! I mean... the Light didn't kill me after I said it!"

Perrin shot the wiry-bodied man an annoyed look, then went back to the monarch he had just whacked. "Well, it annoyed me enough."

Both of the swordspeople looked at the men that had just arrived, and said, "Who the Hades are you people?"

Mat was the first to reply, "I don't know what the flaming a Hades is, but, I'm Mat Cauthon, Quarter staff extraordinaire, and the golden-eyed one over there's name is Perrin Aybara."

"Who is also a blacksmith extraordinaire. We are from, (what the fans of us call it) Randland," Perrin finished for him, annoyed once again because all he got was 'the golden-eyed one'.

"Okay, and why are you here?" was Julian's question, still holding his cheek from the stocky man's slap.

"Well, I guess we don't really have a reason... want us to help you?"

"Save the world from a race of Metal Demons who are bent on this world's destruction? Or... um, occupancy?" the blue-haired gunslinger asked the two newly-introduced characters, smiling weakly and overall just wondering if they were up to the challenge or not.

"Seems easy enough. We'll help you," Mat said, with indisputable courage, and a determined look in his eye. "I mean, we've bloody went up against forces who are brave enough to challenge Lews Therin, the Dragon Reborn! I mean, to us, this task'll be easy."

"Mat, you shouldn't get contemptuous, that will always flaming jinx you," the burly man implied.

"Well, then, what we should do is just go, then," the swordsman suggested, gesturing toward the confusing path of tiles that was to lead them to their next room.

Perrin just looked at the tiles. "Okay, you want US to try and muster up the intellect to try and conquer THIS," he pointed at the path. "Puzzle?"

The three Guardian Warriors nodded their heads in reply. "Basically, yeah."

"Are you freakin' CRAZY? We'd fall into that abyss about the first 13 times of attempting to accomplish getting across!" Mat protested, kind of losing faith in his abilities at the moment.

"Dude, in case you haven't noticed, in this game, if you fall into this 'bottomless pit', it automatically brings you back up to try again," Julian informed, with the slightlest hint of contempt in his voice.

"You think this is a bloody GAME, boy?" Perrin, a little less than screamed at him.

"Yeah. It's a PSX game called 'Wild ARMs'."

Mat looked at blacksmith to his side, and asked him, "Perrin? If these guys are subjects of a game, then, what are we?"

_Subjects of a Science-fiction series called The Wheel of Time, written by Robert Jordan,_ a booming voice sounded from nowhere, just about blowing the crap out of everybody's ears.

"Who the flaming is THAT?" both of the residents of 'Randland' screeched, covering their ears.

"We don't know," Julian said. "That voice booms through the sky every month or so. I don't know why its appearance times are so random. It's just there, without warning."

_I am not an 'it', I'm a 'she', all right? Jeez, doesn't my voice sound female? _the slightly-lower-than-what-a-female's-voice-should-be-but-somehow-still-sounding-feminine voice said, a bit hurt by their ignorance.

"Gee, I wouldn't have noticed," Eric sniggered out, before Cassie hit him in the ribs with her elbow. "Ow!"

"So, what now?"

_Your quest will be to get across these tiles into your next room. How you get there is beyond me, but, it's in your hands. The future of Filgaia rests on your shoulders, Guardian Warriors..._

An idea suddenly hit Perrin. "Mat, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Probably not."

Shooting him another annoyed look, he said, "I should use one of those black teleporter thingers. That way, we can all get inside and teleport to the end of the path."

"But... what if there are any items that are on the way to the end? I mean, there are three places to stop..."

"No," was Perrin's short and simple answer, as he conjured up his strength to ultimately create another one of those black, rectangular portals. "If there are any of these 'items', then that's your peoples' problems, not mine."

"Or mine!" Mat chimed in.

"Now, just jump into this, and you'll be teleported to the end of the path, which is over there," Perrin said, while pointing out the portal and the stairs that lead up to the next room. "Ladies are incipient, so, why don't you go first?" he asked, pointing to Julian and then motioning to the black teleporter.

Julian, enraged because he was again mistaken for a female, screamed, "I'M NOT A DAMNED GIRL! MY NAME IS JULIAN LUCAS ADLEHYDE, AND I AM THE FRICKING PRINCE OF ADLEHYDE KINGDOM! I AM NOT PRINCESS JULIANNE, I'M FREAKING PRINCE JULIAN!"

"Okay, man, I didn't know you were THAT sensitive about your gender..." the blacksmith apologized apathetically. He then pointed to the well-proportioned female to the left of him, and then pointed to the portal. "Then you go- Sorry, I didn't get any of your people's names. What are they?"

The ARMslinger, while she was walking to the portal, said, "Cassie Roughnight, ARM-user, 15 years old." She then dropped into the teleporter, breathlessly.

_She's only 15?! She's way too... um, how do I put this... She's way too bloody big to only be fifteen years old... _Mat thought, in the context that somebody else I know who knows somebody else thinks that the dialect that is used in The Wheel of Time should be used in a certain accent... But, anyways...

Julian, the 'in-touch-with-his-feminine-side' male in the group, then stepped forward, while saying his name and copying the things that Cassie had covered. "Julian Adlehyde, Prince of Adlehyde, Crest Sorcerer, 17 years old." He then dropped through the teleporter.

_I still think that guy looks like a chick. He could definitely classify as a Saldaean farmgirl..., with, of course, less of a figure, I suppose... Oh, Light, what am I thinking?_ Perrin thought, thinking back to his wife, Faile, and going along with happier thoughts about stuff.

The blonde swordsman, Eric, stepped forward, as the last member of the threesome (plus Hanpan), and introduced himself as he walked up to the portal thinger. "Eric Van Burace, rogue, swordsman, 27-years-old." He then jumped into the black rectangle and was teleported to his destination.

"After you, Cauthon," Perrin implied, motioning towards the portal.

"Shit before the show, Aybara. You first."

The blacksmith's grin fell, as he pushed the wiry-bodied man into the raven-colored rectangle. "Bloody moron..." he muttered under his breath.

------------------------------

On the other side of the room, three Guardian Warriors and a rat wait for their newly-acquired friends to pop through the peculiar teleporter that one of them had made appear.

"Question, though... If they can teleport anywhere in the universe, why didn't they just send us to the top of the tower?" Julian asked, rather irked because he was just forced to elude the easy way out.

"We need practice, Julian, just as you had to practice for ten years or better to become a certified Crest sorcerer," was Cassie's dull reply, slightly bored by waiting, as she had done for the past forever.

"Yeah, well, you smell like Hell Hound shit," the prince bluntly insulted, not really at his full potential yet.

The female spoke nothing, but she was all-too-eager to storm over there half-heartedly and smack Julian full-force on his left facial cheek, leaving a red imprint from where she had stricken him. This resulted in Julian putting his hand to his cheek and holding the pain the blue-haired teenager had inflicted upon him.

"Meanie."

Meanwhile, Eric took the opportunity to take the role of a mother who was having trouble with her two troublesome kids, and he said, "Now, now, children, you mustn't quarrel. We've got to save the world, so we don't need you two fighting like two combatants, all right? Settle down."

"You're not my mother, Van Burace!" the brunette-haired boy spat, rage suddenly in his eyes.

Annoyed, Eric unsheathed his sword, causing a shockwave to roll across the floor, through the air, and over the ceiling. "Well, if my 'motherly words' won't make you mind, my weapon WILL."

"Guys, don't fight, it's not worth it... Guardians, where are those guys, anyway? This is taking them an awful long time," Cassie wondered.

Just as she had said that, two men came tumbling out of the black portal, and toppled over on top of each other. "WHAT THE FLAMING?" the one with the Quarter staff shouted. "AYBARA! I THOUGHT YOU KNEW HOW TO WORK THIS THING!"

"I do," Perrin replied, scratching the back of his head as he got up. He then helped his brown-haired companion up. "It's just I can't seem to land perfectly."

"Blood and bloody ashes..."

"Well..." the burly man looked at the other three (who were looking at the two of them like they were crazy people), and said, "Well, why don't we go on? There's a weak source of power at the top, and it seems like it wants to threaten the entire cosmos."

"In English, please?" Eric inquired.

"Means that it wants to destroy this poor excuse for an 'omnipotent planet', dumbass," Mat piped up.

Eric said nothing, just sheathed his sword back in his scabbard and began to march up the stairs, kind of pissed off. _The only reason he thinks he has a right to criticize me is because he thinks he gets more nookie..._

As the rest of them walk up the stairs slowly, almost lethargically, they strike up a conversation. The two from Randland end up talking about their partner in crime, Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn (or, in other words, the one who, in the prophecies, is said to bind the planet, then eliminate all. It's kind of like the demi-god, Angol Moa, but, more powerful, and the events are reversed).

"So, this guy is in love with three women, they know, and don't care?" Julian and Eric asked, dumbfounded by the abilities of this guy and how the Hades he had three girlfriends and got away with it.

"He's the bloody Dragon Reborn, he can get away with anything he wants... Well, anything he wants out of the White Tower's version of safety," Mat explained, kind of laughing at the thought of what had happened to Rand that one day.

"And what might this 'White Tower's' version of safety be, then?" Cassie asked, mildly interested.

"Locking him in a wooden box and giving him food and water two or three times a day," Perrin informed, slightly cracking up at the mental image, too.

"Okay, who were those three women, and how can I get a Dragon Reborn voucher?" Eric asked, violently interested.

"One, I'm not giving you that information; two, there's no such thing as a 'Dragon Reborn voucher', and three, why the flaming do you think you can ask us those questions, without us wincing?" Mat asked, doing so.

"Don't know, I just want chicks."

A more than audible slapping sound of Cassie's hand going across Julian's face was heard, as well as the clearly audible shriek, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOW!" from Julian's mouth. He instantly put his right hand to his cheek, which now had a hand-shaped, crimson imprint. Again. He rubbed his hand against the 'wound' and said in a tiny voice, "You didn't have to hit me..."

"I think I had to, you know, to make you sober," the blue-haired gunslinger said with a nasty grin, arms crossed against her abdominals.

Perrin and Mat were more or less laughing their hind ends off in the corner, grabbing their stomachs because they were in pain. Eric, unamused by everybody's actions (because he was used to it by now), stood with Hanpan on his shoulder, and his arms also crossed against his abs, with his left eyebrow raised. "You guys, I think perhaps we should go. Who knows what could be lurking around the corner of this place..."

"What, Van Burace? Are ya scared?" the prince implied, taking his hand off of his cheek, the red imprint still fairly visible. "That'd be a freakin' revolution. Van Burace, scared."

"Ah, shut up, Adlehyde, I don't need your input."

After Mat and Perrin's laughter ceased, the quintet continued on, until they came across what seemed like a puzzle... They were standing in front of three staircases, each leading somewhere random.

"Blood and bloody ashes, people! How are we going to figure this one out?" Mat said to no one in particular, his head going back and forth from each staircase to the next.

"Be flaming patient, Cauthon... forbearance is a virtue..."

Cassie walked back to the door, because she thought she noticed something different from the other bricks in the wall... what she had spied just happened to be a plaque, which said the following, '**The Sun rises in the east, then sets in the west. The sun rises again in the east to light the path for the insecure...**' The ARMslinger read this aloud to the other five (countin' Hanpan, of course).

"Well, since these stairs would require ascending, perhaps that plaque was depicting some sort of dumb metaphor to discern this puzzle."

"That'd explain the retarded quote..." Eric said, pondering this for another second. He then said, "Yeah, that theory seems pretty believable... we should try it."

"Not before we see what's inside those treasure chests..." Julian said, motioning over to said things.

Cassie walked over to one of them (there were three), and opened it with ease. After the lid clicked open, she lifted it open and saw what was inside, a cute-looking stuffed animal that looked like a goat. "It's a Goat Doll!" she exclaimed.

There was a long lull of silence before Mat finally spoke. "What the flaming is a bloody 'Goat Doll'?" he asked, flailing his arms around a bit while doing so. "All it looks like is a stuffed animal to me."

"It may be but a petty stuffed animal to you, but to me, it's a necessity."

"Clarify," all the males said in unison. -gasp- Not even Cassie's companions knew what a Goat Doll's benefit was? Shame, shame.

"Well, I read in one of my grandfather's books once that Goat Dolls... well, you can sacrifice them in a battle when a really potent monster (or demon) attacks you with enough gumption to kill you, you can use it... it's kind of like a substitute, really..." she trailed off, putting her hands on her hips as she explained.

"Okay, but... still... all they look like are petty stuffed animals," Julian exasperated, annoyed and slightly angry.

"Ah, just shut up and go with the flow, dude," the wiry-bodied Quarter Staff-master mandated, tightening the grip on the bludgeon.

With that, the Crest Socerer did indeed shut his mouth. He looked down at the ground, finding his shoes unusually interesting.

The Guardian Warriors' new friends took possession of the other two Goat Dolls, giving them to the other two males, looking to the staircase at the far left to go down next. The quintet moseyed on down the staircase, ever slowly, telling each other of their problems. Upon hearing Cassie Roughnight's past experiences (well, every one of them other than the death of her Grandfather, Zepet Roughnight), Mat and Perrin concluded that the female species was definitely more serpentine than the male. They knew that already from their past experiences, though. They didn't need to be told that twice.

After they had reached the threshold of the next corridor, they found nothing. So, they decided to fulfill the next part of the puzzle's metaphor. They headed up the stairs on the east side of the room, and they continued to walk slower than molasses in January, each step more monotonous than the last, perduring their conversations of prior adventures.

After reaching the next avenue of the ruin, all of them ascended the stairs to find an open door. They walked through that, and went up another set of floors. Succeeding that was finding an entrance out to the cold outside (it was a nasty mix of rain, snow, sleet and other lovelies). There were ladders outside, conveniently leading to the top, but to every good thing, there just has to be a few catches... the rundles were elliptical, and thanks to the combination of snow and rain, the sides had ice on them, as well as the rungs. The five looked up at the two ladders in disbelief.

"I wish Rand was here to Balefire these ladders' asses," Perrin mused, also wishing he had the ability to do that.

"In the case that Rand was here to Balefire, it wouldn't do much good, because he'd burn the ladders along with the ice," Mat retorted, crossing his arms.

Hanpan climbed out of Eric's pocket. The blonde swordsman took notice of this and said, "Mousy, do you have any special fire-element-abilities to melt this ice?"

The mouse shook his head. Eric hung his head low, trying to think of another way to avoid this mess, but he came up with nothing. He looked to Cassie and Julian to see if they had thought something up.

Cassie was the first to reply. "My Prism Laser might be able to do it. It's weak enough..." she implied, as she dug it out of her knapsack. The dusty ARM was again out in the open. To be safe, she aimed it at the bottom rung, in the case that it was powerful enough to blast through wood. She cocked the hammer, then pulled the trigger. Technicolor lasers again sprang out from the barrel then made contact with the rundle, and the laser burned right through the ice, not destorying the wood. The gunslinger quickly saw this effect and began to aim the ARM higher, continuing to melt the ice on the two ladders and still keep them intact.

This caused the men on the team to begin cracking up. Not at Cassie, per se, more at her insubstantial armament. Julian wanted to be nice, though, so he, very difficultly, attempted to stifle his laughter, while the other three just full-out began guffawing. After the female was done melting the ice on the ladders, she turned around to the males, and she didn't have a very pleasant look on her face.

"You better not be laughing at me, or I will do something you don't really want me to do."

Mat stopped for a second to inquire, "What will you do, girlie? Fire that weak gun at us?" More laughter erupted.

She grinned. "No. I'll call Elayne and have her channel some cans of warrior-whoop-ass on you four."

Perrin and Mat quickly stopped, grimaces on their faces and fear generally their facial expression. "Light, no, please, Cassie, no, Elayne will flaming KILL us, no.."

"Then I suggest you get Eric to stop his infernal mordancy, then."

"What about Julian?" the wiry-bodied Quarterstaff master asked.

"He's trying to be nice by stifling his laughter. And plus, I couldn't harm a single hair on that kid's head."

Julian felt obligated to roll his eyes at that statement, recalling all those times that she had slapped him. But, he figured it was better that she not see that. She might do it again. _She must contradict a lot of things she says..._

With that, the blue-haired chick began climbing the ladder, each male following suit. Since Perrin was right behind her, he got a nice, full view of her non-existant posterior. Even though that was the case, he still found it capable to force him to develop a mystical abstraction just looking at it. _No, Perrin, no. Don't stare it, _he thought, as he began to look away._ Stay true to your Saldaean wife. Remain faithful to Faile. Please. Stay, Perrin. Dammit, bloody STAY! We don't need another Berelain case. _His eyes went wide. _Dammit._

A dagger suddenly was thrown at the burly man. He dodged the best he could, and the dagger ultimately missed. Mat's eyes went wide, also, and a cheaply-animated sweatdrop rolled down the back of his head. "Perrin, you didn't just say the 'B' word, did you?"

The gold-eyed blacksmith shook his head, but then said, "I didn't say the name. I thought it, though. Perhaps Faile can read minds... if that's the case, then... oh... shit..."

"What are you two talking about?" Julian asked, since he had overheard the two's conversation. He was right below Mat, who was trailing behind Perrin. "And what the Hades is the 'B' word?"

"Kid, if we utter the 'B' word, then we have daggers thrown at us. Even in this alternate universe, it still can happen. We guess that Faile must have a really strong arm, because even we couldn't throw a knife that far..." Perrin explained, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.

"So, if I say the 'B' word, then I'll have a dagger thrown at me?" the prince asked, feeling rather daring at the moment. "Sounds interesting. I want to know the 'B' word."

"Julian, shut up," Eric established by edict, fairly annoyed by the teenager's antics. "If they won't tell you the word, then it's not worth you getting stabbed in the heart by an airbourne dagger."

_If only that could happen sometimes, _Mat thought, equally as annoyed by the brunette kid as the swordsman was.

The first ladder was now climbed up by everybody. Cassie lead the group to begin ascending the second flight of rungs. Julian kept on bitching at the two men to tell him the name. "Come on! Tell me the damned name! Otherwise, I'll sic my spells of the Crest on you!"

"Dude, if your 'spells of the Crest' is any more powerful than that Prism Laser ARM of hers... just an inkling more, then I guess we'd have to run."

"It IS more powerful than that!" the Curan Abbey graduate screamed, losing his patience with these two and having a slight urge to reach for his wand. "If you don't, I'll call upon the powers of... the powers of... Stoldark, the Guardian of Water! Yeah!"

Eric rolled his eyes. "Julian, you can't do that unless you've got Force. And right now, I very much doubt that you do, given you're not in physical combat."

The Randland natives began to titter at those informative sentences. Julian's face's hue turned a blistering red, and he shut his mouth for the first time in hours. Cassie was the next one to speak. "Only about 20 more rundles, and we'll be at the top. Get ready for a fight, guys. If that police occifer- excuse me..." she coughed for a brief second. "If that police officer was right, the Night Gaunt is supposed to be up there, guarding the dimensional barrier thing that the police officer said was up here. Bloody idiot, I say. That kid's nothing but trouble."

Julian sneered. He realized that last statement made no sense. He asked, "The Hades kind of biscuits you eat, girl?" That phrase is known all around Filgaia to mean, "Are you effing CRAZY?" I didn't mention it before, because the characters had never said it before. -cough- And because that I only just received inspiration to use that a week ago. -whistles-

Anywho, after the quintet reached the top of that ladder (in which Cassie didn't wait for), the four men saw Cassie walking towards this unusual triangular formation on the ground. They ran toward her, but ended up knocking into her and falling on top of her inside the triangular formation. The vertices of the 2-dimensional figure began to glow, and then three walls of technicolor rose, encasing them into an actual triangular pyramid shape.

"Light..." Mat uttered out, his eyes wide with wonder. "The flaming's going on here?"

"Apparently, Mat, this multi-colored pyramid has just imprisoned us. I just hope it's not as bad as that box that the White Tower put Rand in..." Perrin muttered coolly, giving a hint of bravado off to everyone.

Cassie, now up and out from under the men, stared forward, gaping at a sheet-covered, bloaty figured floating in front of the dimensional prison. "The Hades... what the Hades is that thing?!"

Eric glimpsed at the sheathed-in-pink figure with a golden mask hovering in front of them. His eyes then widened, as he leapt forward, and pointed his finger at it. "YOU!"

The demon we know as Emilio then spoke. "Do I know you, kid?"

Eric's mind then flooded with memories of the past, hurt by the result of what this 'bastard' had done.

"Well? Not gonna speak? Okay... well, humans... I expect you are surprised to see me here... wait. Zeikfried said there were only three of you. Wow, sometimes, you'd think that guy's on cocaine or something..." Emilio trailed off. "Anyway, since Belselk was clearly too impotent to do the job, I gather that I'll have to do it. You know the rumored Night Gaunt that's said to guard the top of this tower? It's real. And since I have the power to control it..." It grinned under its mask. "You get to fight it. N. Gaunt! Blast these fudds into the next dimension with your Mysterious Ray! An plus, I need to go see if my 'experiment' went according to plan..."

As soon as Emilio teleported off, the pterodactyl/dragon Night Gaunt flew down to the top of the structure, ready for battle and somehow grinning like an idiot.

Everybody got into a battle stance. Mat began spinning his Quater staff like it was a light baton. Perrin unstrapped his ax from his back and flung it at the giant demon. Eric unsheathed his sword and initiated some of his most difficult Fast Draw maneuvers. Julian began chanting battle, healing and stat spells immediately, as Cassie started manning her ARMs. The five were virtually murdering the grotesque creature with their onslaught of attacks, and had it down after it had executed it's nasty move, the Mysterious Ray. The Night Gaunt disintegrated until it was no more.

After the battle, everybody healed up, and then Cassie came up with the crazy idea that the city of Saint Centour was in dire need of help. "Guys! Saint Centour! The place... Oh, Guardians, we need to get out of here!"

"But, how? We're stuck in this dimensional prison! How the flaming are we gonna get out of here?" Eric said, while stepping forward to try and phase himself out. It didn't work, though, and what he got out of it was a nasty zap that rushed through his veins. "Yowch!"

Suddenly, the theme music changed to an awfully catchy tune that signified that somebody of high fame was near.

"The flaming?!"

Your more than run-on-the-mill bounty hunter appeared after climbing up the stairs. His appearance was quite compelling, too. His hair was shoulder-length, blonde, wavy and touseled, streaked with an even brighter shade of blonde from the harsh Filgaian sun. His eyes were a bright hue of cerulean, his facial expression altering their emotion to childish arrogance. His skin was tanned, and his body long and lean, as to the exercise you receive from such an arduous vocation. His torso was sheathed (and otherwise compressed) in a long-sleeved crimson shirt. The shirt was tucked into a just-as-tight pair of red jeans. The outfit was just tight enough to show an outline of his masculinity, as well as some moderately-toned arms and legs. His shoes were lightweight hiking boots, laced into a perfect double-bow. To his back, large ARMs were strapped, as well as some other long-range armaments, such as rocket launchers and others. At his side was a medium-sized tommy gun. He was dressed and armed to kill, to put it bluntly.

Everybody gaped their mouths open. What they were seeing in front of them was Calamity Jake Maxwell, famous bounty hunter known all around Filgaia. This was the guy they'd heard about from everybody. This is the legend that everybody knows. _Holy shit..._ was all anybody could think. Everybody except Mat and Perrin, at least. Cassie was slightly blushing from gazing at the handsome bounty hunter, too. The men were looking at the female to his left, though.

Right next to Calamity Jake was a French maid in her mid-twenties. Her hair was light-brown, curly, and it was waist length. Her vanity was kept back by a white-hued maid's headband, which was a half-circle and had lace on the round part. Her skin was just as tanned as her younger companion's was. Her eyes were grey and emotionless, and her fingers (which were coming out of black, fingerless gloves) were calloused from hilts of... cleaning equipment. Her outfit, was, indeed, a French maid's ensemble, which was, indeed, revealing. It was a black dress of sorts, with some argent lace here and there. The neckline was very low and the hemline was very high. In the middle was a wide-banded, black, leather belt to accentuate her figure and enhance some features. Her legs were sheathed in fishnets and on her feet were raven-colored high heels. And when I say high, I mean FREAKIN' HIGH. 4-inch heels equal pain in my book. Unlike Jake, she didn't have any ARMs in her artillery. All she actually had was a petty Long Knife, which was sheathed in a rabbit-hide scabbard. It looked like the bounty hunter fellow in the duo did all the fighting. From first glance, you'd know that she administered the healing items, which were contained in the knapsack slung over her right shoulder.

The blonde bounty hunter was the first to speak. "Monique, the Night Gaunt was supposed to be up here... where the Hades is it?" he looked ahead to see the quintet of people who were unfortunately stuck inside the dimensional barrier. "Looks like someone got into a little conundrum here..." he stated. _And opened up an opportunity for me to get some more gella. Ha..._

"Yes!" Cassie said. "Will you help us? I know this may seem like a small thing, and you may be too noble to help little non-celebrities like us, but please, Mr. Maxwell, help us."

_IS THAT CHICK CRAZY?_ all four of the men thought, their eyes widening in shock. They couldn't believe the bluntness and otherwise rudeness of the female.

'Calamity' Jake looked at the blue-haired ARMs-user through the polychrome wall. He noted that she was very beautiful and looked slightly threatening with her abnormally-colored hair, and her eccentrically-undertoned eyes. And dare I not say the mean-looking revolver at her side. "Perhaps I can help you. You have to be nicer, though. I like my helpees to be respectful. And, of course, helping you will come with a nice fee."

Eric looked at the bounty hunter, awestruck. "A frickin' FEE? We have a planet to save, and you want money?"

"Well, you have my bounty and I need the cash. Pay up. 2000 gella."

"We're trying to save the flaming WORLD, here! Throw us a frickin' bone, here, for Light's sake!" Mat screamed, trying to get through this kid's skull.

Jake waggled his finger at the dark-haired Quarter staff-master. "I don't give a damn about what you're trying to save. Just give me the gella and we can be on our merry ways, after I get you out of there, of course."

Eric's face was turning red. He didn't like this kid at all. Julian and Perrin just stood back and said nothing, though. They thought it best to just keep out of the argument. Cassie dug the 2,000 gella out of her knapsack and showed it to the blonde-haired hunter. He nodded and took the tommy gun at his side out of its container.

Julian's eyes went wide. "He uses an ARM... just like Cassie..."

Perrin turned to Julian and said, "What gave ya that idea, Adlehyde? The huge guns strapped to his back or the tommy gun he just took out?" He rolled his eyes.

Ignoring the blacksmith's rhetorical question, Julian went on. "Shiny..."

Eric turned to the prince behind him. "Julian... shut up. We don't need to be reminded of your abnomal obsession with effulgent objects right now."

'Calamity' Jake aimed the ARM at the nearest stake in the ground. He pulled the trigger after doing what was needed to prepare the gun for doing so. Multiple bullets were thrust out of the barrel, plummeting into the stake to the right. After it was destroyed, the barrier dissipated instantaneously. Cassie handed over the large amount of gella to the very smug bounty hunter. He then said, "Perhaps we'll meet again. I didn't get your names, though. I'd like them."

"Sir, we really should be going," the maid said in a very pseudo-French accent. "We need to get back."

"Silence, Monique," Jake commanded, holding up a hand to shush his companion. "Seriously, guys, we would appreciate your names."

"We don't really have time to give you such," Eric said, clenching his fists threateningly. "We have a statue to get back to in Saint Centour."

"The statue of the Holy, yes. Ione Paua," Julian finished. "It might be desecrated to nothing right now. But we have no time to explain. We must go. Shall I cast my Escape spell, guys?"

"The flaming? Yes! Anything to get out of this place!" Perrin said, wiping his slick hair (which had been saturated from the precipitation) to the back of his head.

Julian unclipped his staff from his belt and then dug in his knapsack for the pertaining Crest Graph. He cast the spell, as the quintet of warriors were teleported back to the entrance of the ruin. Then they made a run for it back to Saint Centour.

---------------------

Back on top of the ruin...

"The Hades? Why would they just LEAVE us up here? We've got feelings, too!" Jake said. "AND we didn't get to slay the Night Gaunt! This day just isn't getting any better, is it, Monique?"

"On the contrary, we could go back to Saint Centour and get some weaponry from the shop. Quite honestly, I think I need a new weapon. In case you haven't noticed, the monsters around here are tougher than the ones by Milama Village. Can I pleeeease get a Bronze Sword?"

Jake sighed. "Fine, Monique, but it's coming out of your paycheck."

"Well, at this point, I think I value life more than money."

"Ah, just shut up and lead me down the ladder."

--------------------

The group had now neared Saint Centour. As they walked through the path that was surrounded by statues of something I couldn't tell you were. As they walked through the dimensional barrier, they noticed it had been turned off, because the gem at the top wasn't glowing its usual azure. They moseyed through the town, and all of the people who had occupied the town had been replaced by monsters. Since Cassie, Eric and Julian had forgoten where the Ione Paua statue was, they had to walk around the town to find it. They ended up finding it after going around the town, slaying numerous monsters. It helped that the monsters were pathetic, though. You can't find a good challenge these days.

Yes, Julian had been right. "This has to be the work of the Metal Demons. If it isn't, who else could exert a power like that?" He shook his head, then he looked at the remains of the desecrated statue.

The broken statue then began to glow. Julian heard a distant voice in his head. "One statue left... Guardian Warriors... protect the statue... protect... before... too late..." The voice then disappeared altogether. A slab of stone that had an insignia on it appeared in Julian's hand. He knew it to be the Saint Rune, or the rune that held the power of Ione Paua.

"Guys...there's one statue left. Then the resurrection of Mother will be the harsh reality. If that happens, then Filgaia will be in a danger that has increased a thousandfold. Mat, Perrin... do you want to continue on the journey with us?" Julian asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice and a whole lot on his face.

"I must say that Filgaia's safety would be more insured if Rand were here. But, what the flaming? We'll do it. I mean, Randland can stand to not have us two on the cosmos for a while. Sure, we'll help," Perrin agreed, looking at Mat, wondering if he'll do the same.

"Aw, Light, what choice do we have? Of course we'll facilitate the planet in achieving peace. There's nothing better to do anyway... it's just, shit, this race of Metal Demons seems sorta like a bunch of WKBWs."

"WKBWs, Mat?" everybody asked him simultaneously.

"Wimpy kitty baby whiners? From Bruce Almighty? Duh."

Perrin whispered in Cassie's ear, "Nevermind him, he's got this weird fetish with Earth at current time..."

"I bloody HEARD that, Aybara!"

"Anyway, it seems that our next destination will be Port Timney. Oh, joy, the port city of Filgaia. Beware."

"I have a feeling we should excavate around the city, though. I think we might find some valuable stuff that we couldn't find earlier thanks to the people standing around. And especially that damned dog that ran us back to the thing, protecting that damned chest... how about we split up to find our stuff? That'll work out."

-------------------------

Half an hour later or better, the gang recollected, and showed each other what they found.

"I found an Ambrosia! Kickass!" Julian said, holding out said item.

"I found three Secret Signs in the pub!" Eric said, deciding to save 'em for later Fast Draws.

"I found a Bullet Clip in the bottom of that one guy's house," Cassie said, stashing it in her knapsack.

"I found a Lucky Card by some trees," Mat said, checking the item out. "Even though I don't know what the flaming it's for."

"And I found a Bone,' Perrin said. "It was outside the right side of this one building. Talk about good hiding if you don't know where to look."

"Shut up, Perrin, you didn't know where the flaming to look, anyway."

"Did anyone find any lone pedestrians in the city? Or in any houses?"

"Well, there was this red-haired little girl all by herself in her home," Perrin said, recalling the girl that was barely in her teens. "She said she was blind and that she had sensed that something had gone wrong and that there was a huge burst of evil Chi energy. And that it's weakened a bit, but it's still there." He thought for a second before musing, "You think that means that the big evil that was here was that bloaty bastard that was on top of that tower thinger? And that the weakened evils are the monsters?"

"That girl you're talking about is Aithne. I don't know her last name... You think we should go see her?" Eric asked.

"No. We've got bigger fish to fry at the moment. The world is at stake here. Who knows, maybe the Demons have already desecrated the next statue. I don't know what the next statue is called or whose it is. But once I hear the element, I can tell you. Once Stoldark tells us..."

"Who the flaming's Stoldark?"

"He's the Guardian of Water. Don't ask. Just like Ione Paua is a centaur. Which is basically why this town is called 'Saint Centour'. And slightly because he's the Guardian of the Holy power. Hence the 'Saint' part."

"Then why do some authors call it 'Saint Centaur' when clearly, in the game, it's 'Saint Centour'?"

"Because of damn dirty spell check."

"Okay."

So, the group decided to exit Saint Centour and go to the next Sworkassi Pyramid. Since Mat and Perrin clearly weren't Filgaia natives, Julian was forced to explain the Sworkassi and the pyramid system as best as he could. Eric also put in his two cents, because he had seen a holographic image of one (that was extremely rude).

Mat and Perrin also got to experience the energy-transport the Sworkassi had put together so long ago. The quintet (plus Hanpan) were teleported across the planet to the Sworkassi Pyramid near Port Timney. When the room was fully lit again, Julian heard Stoldark's voice in his head once again.

_This is the land of the Lightning Statue, which seals the evil heart!_

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Dani: Well, so ends yet another chapter. I decided to go all-out in this chapter, which is why it took so long (and why it's so enormous in text). Oh, man, the hours I've spent. XD

Rudy: So, now, who gets to marry Captain Bartholomew?

Dani: That's something you'll have to figure out for yourself. And who knows? Perhaps it's not going to be Captain Bartholomew.

Cecilia: ANOTHER gender alternation? Dani, enough is enough.

Dani: Aw, shut up, Cecilia. This is my story, and apparently, I want it to be personalized. Well, at least everything after the fourth chapter. Whoops.

Jack: So, onto the next chapter! Good times...

Dani: We'll let 'em roll. -opts out-


End file.
